MOORE, John Hamilton (1738-1807). The New Practical Navigator; being an Epitome of Navigation... Revised and Corrected by a Skilful Mathematician and Navigator [Nathaniel Bowditch]. Newburyport: Edmund M. Blunt, 1799. 8vo (211 x 130mm). 8 engraved plates. (Lacking 4 leaves in Table I [A3-A6], upper corner of Contents leaf B1 torn away affecting a few words on verso, some minor browning or spotting, some marginal soiling.) Contemporary sheep (spine cracked with some loss of leather, worn); quarter morocco folding case. Provenance: George Gray, Baltimore (early ownership signature on title, marginalia and presumably his 2-page manuscript notes on rear endpapers recording various sea voyages); Saul Moskowitz (bookplate). FIRST AMERICAN EDITION. The most popular navigational text of the late 18th century was The New Practical Navigator by John Hamilton Moore of the Royal Navy, first published in 1772. In America Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838) was the editor of two editions of Moore's Practical Navigator, published by Edward Blunt of Newburyport in 1799 and 1800, respectively. By 1802, when Blunt was ready to publish a third edition, Nathaniel Bowditch and others had corrected so many errors in Moore's work that Blunt decided to publish it as the first edition of a new work entitled, The New American Practical Navigator. Campbell 1; ESTC W31364; Evans 35834; Shipton & Mooney 35834.