Grace
Galleries, Inc
(Incorporated 1972)
Matthew Fontaine Maury
by Grace Galleries of Harpswell, Maine
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Matthew Fontaine Maury was born in Fredericksburg, Virginia in 1806 and died in Richmond in 1873. He joined the U. S. Navy in 1825 as a Midshipman and while in the Navy he became interested in navigation and meteorology. In 1827 he was appointed to the U. S. S. Vincennes, a sloop-of-war under Captain William Bolton Finch, who was ordered first to patrol the west coast of South America and then to proceed across the Pacific on a circumnavigation of the world. During his leave, after the voyage, Maury published “A New Theoretical and Practical Treatise on Navigation” and due to his evident interest in oceanography and wind and weather currents, he was made Superintendent of the Depot of Charts and Instruments of the Navy Dept, in Washington, D.C. and given an added responsibility in 1844 as Superintendent of the new Naval Observatory in Washington that he had been lobbying for, for some time. In 1847 Maury issued his first Wind and Current Chart of the North Atlantic, and by 1848 eight more Wind and Current Charts were completed of the North and South Atlantic and the North and South Pacific and the Indian Ocean. These were designated Series A. Series B came out shortly thereafter, but were more specialized and involved a Trade Winds Chart of the Atlantic, and Series C became the famous Pilot Charts of the United States Navy. While preparing the charts Maury sought the cooperation of mariners from many nations, getting them to report to him their regular observations of winds and currents, which he either added or corrected on his own charts. This was the Age of the great Clipper Ships, and their masters prized Maury's charts as by following their wind and current directions, they were able to cut many days off their voyages from North American ports to the Far East, as also the Clippers racing to and from New York and San Francisco. In 1853 Maury was invited to attend an international conference on Oceanography in Brussels at which he represented the United States, and his uniform system of recording oceanographic data was adopted for all naval and merchant vessels. In 1855 he published his famous work “The Physical Geography of the Sea” and prepared a chart representing the bottom profile of the Atlantic between Europe and America to demonstrate the practicability of a submarine cable across the Ocean. In his lifetime Maury wrote many papers and treatises on oceanography for scientific journals and became internationally recognized for his work and was awarded many medals and honorary degrees. The charts listed below are from Matthew Fontaine Maury's Series A Wind and Current Charts, and Series C. Pilot Charts. Dates, sizes and condition are noted alongside each item. (Ref. “The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea” Edited by Peter Kemp and “Matthew Fontaine Maury. Scientist of the Sea” by Frances Leigh Williams.)
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WIND & CURRENT CHARTS. SERIES A. |
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SOUTH ATLANTIC
MFM2 - “Wind and Current Chart of the South Atlantic by M. F. Maury L.L.D. Lieut. U.S.Navy. Superintendent of U. S. N. Observatory. Washington. Compiled from materials in the Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography. Commodore Charles Morris. Chief of Bureau. 1853.” Series A. No.1. 37X26˝. Condition: Good. |
$600 |
MFM3 - “Maury's Wind and Current Chart. South Atlantic. Series A. Sheet No. 2.” 37X26. Condition: Outer marginal repaired tears, Paper reinforcement lower back center. |
$600 |
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$600 |
MFM7 - “Maury's Wind and Current Chart. North Pacific. Series A. No. 7” Drawn by W.C.B.S Porter. Lieut. U.S.N. 37X26˝. Condition: Good. Outer marginal tears repaired. |
$600 |
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$600 |
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$600 |
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$600 |
MFM11 - “Maury's Wind and Current Chart. North Pacific. Series A. No. 11. 1852.” 37X26. Drawn by Lardner Gibbon P.N.U.S.N. 1852. Condition: Good. Repaired marginal tears. |
$600 |
SOUTH PACIFIC
MFM12 - “Maury's Wind and Current Chart. South Pacific. Series A. No. 5. 1852.” 36˝X26. Condition: Fair. 4" diameter coffee stain in upper right. Repaired edge tears. |
$400 |
INDIAN OCEAN
MFM14 - “Maury's Wind and Current Chart. Indian Ocean. Series A. No 4.” 36X26 Condition: Fair. Repaired outer marginal tears with some minor marginal losses. |
$450 |
MFM15 - “Maury's Wind and Current Chart. Indian Ocean. Series A. No. 5.” 36X26. Drawn by R. H. Wyman & G. B. Balsh. Lieuts. U.S.N. April 1854. Condition: Good. Light crease at top & repaired outer marginal tears.
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$600 |
SPECIAL EDITIONS
MFM16 - “Maury's Wind and Current Chart. 3rd Edition. 1852. Series A. No. 2” 36X26˝. Covers the West Indies and the Caribbean Sea area. Notes the tracks of the following ships, Peacock. 1827. Constitution 1820. Guerriere 1831. Macedonian 1828. J. W. Blodgett 1847. Lexington 1826, and others. Condition: Good. |
$650 |
PILOT CHARTS. SERIES C. |
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NORTH ATLANTIC
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$650 |
SOUTH ATLANTIC
MFM20 - “Pilot Chart of the South Atlantic by M. F. Maury L.L.D. Lieut. U. S. Navy. Compiled at the National Observatory from materials in the Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography. Commodore Lewis Warrington. Chief of Bureau.” Series C. No. 1. 1853. 35X23. Condition: Fair. Light water staining at top of chart and some outer marginal losses in lower left. |
$450 |
MFM21 - “Pilot Chart of the South Atlantic by Lieut. M. F. Maury. U. S. Navy. National Observatory. Washington. 1853.” Sheet 2. Series C. 35X24. Condition: Good except for some light water staining at top of chart. |
$600 |
MFM23 - “Pilot Chart of the North Pacific by Lieut M. F. Maury. U. S. Navy. National Observatory. Washington. 1852.” 35˝X23. Sheet 5. Series C. Condition: Good except for some light water staining. |
$550 |
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$450 |
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| MFM25 - "The Physical Geography of the Sea." by M. F Maury. L.L.D. Lieut. U. S. Navy. 3rd Edition. Enlarged & Improved. New York. Harper & Bros. Published. 1855. This is Maury's famous & most widely read treatise that went through many editions in America, Great Britain, France, Italy & Germany. As Maury states in his Introduction "The primary object of The Wind & Current Charts out of which has grown this treatise.....was to collect the experience of every navigator as to the winds & currents of the Ocean. To discuss his observations upon them and then to present the world with the results on charts for the improvement of commerce & navigation." Condition: Good with some slight browning to paper edges & some front cover separation from the spine repaired. | $450 |
Grace Galleries, Inc. |
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Copyright. Grace Galleries, Inc. 2010
This page was last updated on March 28th, 2010 Webmaster, John W. Snowe, Harpswell, Maine john@harpswell.com