544J. John Tapp active 1596-1615.

The sea-mans kalender: or, an ephemerides of the sun, moon, and certain of the most notable fixed stars. as also a table of the longitude and latitude of all the most eminent places of the world: first calculated by John Tapp, since corrected and inlarged, with many additions: viz. new exact tables of the north-star, new tables of 65 of the principall fixed stars; their time of coming upon the meridian every day, with their right ascension, and declination, &c. With the discovery of a way to finde the long hidden secret of longitude, by Henry Bond, tracher [sic] of the mathematicks in the Bulwark neer the Tower. All which are now newly calculated and corrected, and many new rules and tables added, by Henry Phillippes, Philo-Nauticm. 

London : printed by William Leybourn, for George Hurlock, and are to be sold at his shop at Magnus Church-corner 1661.  Price   $4,000

Quarto (175 x 128 mm).  Signatures A-Z4.  lacking B2&B3, (N2 & N3 reattached,) N4 top edge torn affecting several lines of text lacking, (O2-O3 reattached and repaired at gutter, ).   Leaves Q1 -Q2 with burn hole affecting text, but Q1-Q4 duplicated text pages.   There is some wear and fraying to some page edges, a small amount of browning and soiled throughout, contemporary annotations to front and rear paste-downs, contemporary calf, worn and stored in a custom box.

 In the first edition, printed in 1602 of this highly important seaman’s manual, John Tapp “made his most original contribution to the art of navigation… Its popularity was immense. It was frequently brought up to date. Indeed a fresh edition appeared roughtly every three years (D.W. Waters, The Art of Navigation in England in Elizabethan and Early Stuart Times, New Haven, 1958, p.239, with an extensive explication on the text on pp.239-242).

Tapp states that “Being many times conversant with seamen and marriners whereby I perceived that they… chiefly desired: at my best leysure I made a collection of such Tables and rules as I thought fittest for their purposes and being instantly urged by divers to publish them… I resolved to hazard my papers to the Presse.” 


Not in Wing or ESTC or OCLC or World cat.

From the list below , it is clear that every edition of this Almanac/Calendar has barely survived, the most commonly held copies are known in only three examples, of all know editions/copies there are only five listed in North America. the one offered here has as of present slipped through unrecorded. This edition/copy will fit between #8 and #9 in the list.