The Magnetism of Iron and Steel Ships. An Explanation of the Various Ways in Which It Affects the Compass. Naval Professional Papers. No. 17.

Washington: Government Printing Office, 1884. First edition, Presentation copy. Octavo. 123, [1] pp. plus 28 inserted plates of charts (most color printed, folding), original albumen pasted down opposite page 50. Publisher's blind-ruled blue cloth with gilt spine and cover lettering. Minor extremity wear but a lovely copy overall.Presentation copy with inscribed compliments card of J. G. Walker, U.S. Navy, Chief of Bureau of Navigation tipped-in at title-page. In the new age of steel ships this was an important matter. "During the year 1883, Naval Professional Paper, No. 13, entitled "Magnetism: Its Principle and Applications to Ships and Compasses." was prepared and published from the small amount of money appropriated for printing and binding in the Navy Department. Recognizing that a thorough knowledge of the action of the materials of which ships are constructed upon their compasses was necessary to nautical men and to the ship-building interests of the country, that a special appropriation would be needed. attention was called to the fact in the annual report of the Bureau... Notwithstanding the request for a limited appropriation received little, if any, consideration, Professional Paper No. 17, "The Magnetism of Iron and Steel Ships," was prepared, and after much delay in consequence of inadequate appropriations, is almost ready for publication" (Annual Report of the Corporation of the Chamber of Commerce, of the State of New York, 1885). It must have been quite a miserly appropriation as OCLC only records 11 copies (unusual for a government publication).