LIGHTHOUSES Reports to the House of Representatives

Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. Hardcover. Very Good. A collection of seven reports to the House of Representatives relating to the construction, maintenance, expenditure, location and other matters relating to lighthouses from March 19, 1842 to Jan 19, 1844. Bound in maroon pigskin, spine title gilt. 124, 111, 9, 25, 33, 67, 131 pp. Numerous tables including information on number of lamps lit up, tube glasses, wicks, buff-skins, number & names of floating lights, color of the lighthouse or "any peculiarity in its appearance by day", height of building, year erected, etc. Documents include an Act to Erect a Lighthouse at Flynn's Knoll, N.Y. and Rebuild a Lighthouse at Brandywine Shoal, Delaware Bay, which includes a large folding plate: "Sketch of a Screw Pile Lighthouse." Other reports include "Light-House Establishment in France," with 12 tables, including 3 folding, and "Condition of the Light-houses on the Eastern Coast." The final document, prepared in response to the gross negligence and mismanagement of a previous United States lighthouse inspector, is a compilation of the opinions of various ship masters and pilots on the condition and effectiveness of particular lighthouses. It includes a 3 page table listing the name of each ship master, the name of his vessel and summary of his opinion, which is given in full in the report. It also includes a 43 page descriptive table of the lighthouses of the United States, England, Scotland and Ireland, and a large folding descriptive table of the light-houses and watch-lights on the coast of France, up to July 1, 1841. A more detailed handwritten list of the contents of each report is laid in. From the library of Clifford Shattuck, author of The Nubble [a history of the] Cape Neddick Lightstation, York, Maine (Freeport: Cumberland Press, 1979), with his label on the front paste-down. Joints rubbed; the binding is otherwise in Very Good condition. The plate of the Screw Pile Lighthouse has some tears which have been professionally repaired with archival tape; there is also a tear in one folding table. Occasional foxing to some pages of the documents, otherwise VG. Photographs available.