A SUCCINCT VIEW AND ANALYSIS OF AUTHENTIC INFORMATION EXTANT IN ORIGINAL WORKS, ON THE PRACTICABILITY OF JOINING THE ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC OCEANS, BY SHIP CANAL ACROSS THE ISTHMUS OF AMERICA

London: Printed for J.M. Richardson,...and J. Hatchard and Son, 1825.. viii,229,[3]pp. including errata, plus folding map. Contemporary half-calf over marbled boards, spine ruled in gilt, gilt label. Boards a bit rubbed and worn, front board warped top and bottom edges. Armorial bookplate on front pastedown and author's presentation inscription on titlepage. Pages slightly wrinkled with minor foxing, heavier towards the end, otherwise bright and clean internally. Folding map quite clean and crisp. Overall, about very good. A nice association copy of the author's only work, on the practicability of a canal across the Isthmus of Panama, inscribed to Sir Humphry Davy. Seeing that much had been written about the idea over the years but never collected and analyzed, Pitman gathers existing reports on the topography, weather, and general feasibility of building a canal to connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, quoting extensively from over 150 years of materials beginning with Wafer's 1681 VOYAGE. The folding map depicts much of the "Isthmus of America," and outlines five possible locations for the building of such a canal.

This copy is inscribed "with the author's respects" to famed chemist and inventor Sir Humphry Davy, and bears the armorial bookplate of Lady Davy. Davy is perhaps most well-known for his creation of the Davy Lamp, an oil lamp that could be safely used in mines filled with combustible gases. In addition, he is credited with the discovery of the elements Sodium and Potassium (among others), and was President of the Royal Society from 1820 to 1827. KRESS C.1524. GOLDSMITH 24643. SABIN 63055.