1796 AMERICANA SURVEYING Love Geodaesia George Washington Carolina Maps Indians

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1796 AMERICANA SURVEYING Love Geodaesia George Washington Carolina Maps Indians:
$159.70

RARE, ORIGINAL, 1796 EDITION OF: “Geodaesia: Or, the Art of Surveying, and Measuring Land Made Easy, Shewing by plain and practical rules, to survey, protract, cast up, reduce or divide any piece of land whatsoever; with new tables for the ease of the surveyor in reducing the measure of land, moreover a more facile and sure way of surveying by the chain, than has hitherto been taught. As also to lay out new lands in America, or elsewhere: and how to make a perfect map of a River\'s Mouth or Harbour; with several other things never before published in the English language.

John Love penned this early Americana treatise of singular importance! Printed by Samuel Campbell, in New York, in 1796.

\'\'The Geodaesia of Love is significant in that it is a clear, concise exposition of the description of instruments and methods of surveying. Although many of these topics had been discussed by others, Love gives the most complete directions for the actual survey... Furthermore, Love is the first English writer to consider the surveying of land in America where the conditions under which the field work was conducted differed from those in England” [Richardson, 1966]

GEODAESIA, written by John Love, was probably the ﬁrst surveying reference book written and produced for the Colonial American surveyor. Little is known about the author; he was born in England and became a land surveyor at an early age and called himself Phiiomathematicus.

Commencing around 1680, he traveled to the New World and started surveying grants for settlers mainly in the Carolinas and on the Caribbean island of Jamaica. He was accompanied by his friend and fellow surveyor, Maurice Mathews. Together the two surveyors produced one of the early maps of The Carolinas. Love published his first edition after returning from surveying in America. He was particularly concerned about the lack of knowledge exhibited by young surveyors in Carolina.

His first edition was published in 1681 for English surveyors, and in all probability was included in many surveyors’ packs when they departed for the America.

Instructions are given in use of a Gunter chain and measuring angles with the circumferentor, plane table, and semicircle. There are also directions for taking field notes and measuring and calculating the acreage for plots of land. George Washington (1732-1799) studied surveying from Love\'s Geodaesia which was widely used in America.

Key figures in colonial society, surveyors—especially those appointed as surveyors for county — created private holdings from public lands. They generally were literate men who learned their craft from books on surveying or through experience. Combining their skills with political connections enabled surveyors to earn appointments as officers of the colony.

Surveying on the frontier entailed considerable risk to the members of the surveying party as they tramped through unexplored swamps and forests and battled snakes, mosquitoes, and disease. Late autumn and early spring were the best times for surveying since there were clear sight lines and generally moderate temperatures. Mapmakers consulted and copied surveys held by landowners, county courthouses, colonial offices, and other surveyors.

The vast expanse of the new colonies highlighted the great need for surveyors. Many of the first surveyors came to this country having received training in England or Europe. They, in turn, taught others in the art of surveying.

There was great reliance on textbooks such as “The Compleat Surveyor: Containing the Whole Art of Surveying of Land,” by William Leybourn, or “Geodaesia: or, The Art of Surveying and Measuring of Land Made Easy,” by John Love.

By the time of the founding of the American colonies, estate surveys in England had developed into an art form. These surveys were presented in large, color maps, showing all the improvements to the property. Because the property lines, including stone fences or rock walls, had already been established, very little emphasis was placed on cardinal direction, such as true or magnetic North.

This was not the case in colonial America. The new land was heavily wooded, and all surveys needed direction and location in the vast wilderness. The methods commonly used in the old country simply did not apply. The colonial surveyor worked mainly in the wilderness away from family and civilization for long periods of time. The dangers were many, and most surveyors adopted the ways of the native people in dress and food. After working in the field for many months, in many cases it could have been difficult to distinguish the surveyors from the Native Americans.

Condition: Rare book remains in good condition [see images]. Volume is bound in full calf leather. Gilt ruled spine with red spine label. Rubbed with edgewear. Joints split. Bookplate of “William H. Soule, Plympton on front pastedown. Ffp torn. Title page has closed tear. PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED WITH FIGURES AND TABLES. Scattered light foxing. Endpaper is enhanced by the inclusion of early inked notes. It measures approx. 7.5\" tall x 4.5\" wide x 1\" thick. Volume contains 189 pages of text. Followed by, “Table of Northing and Southing…” “Table of Sines and Tangents…” “Table of Logarithm Numbers” “An Appendix shewing farther…”This is quite a find and a very worthy acquisition indeed.

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