NavList:

Yesterday I had a chance to visit two new exhibits at the Peabody Essex Museum here in Salem. The exhibits are entitled "Written on the Waves" and "Unbound", and they are displaying some of the most valuable items from their own Phillips Library. The museum and library were founded as the East India Marine Society in 1799 by Salem ship captains during our golden age of sail. As a result the Phillips Library is a treasure trove of ship's logs which make up the first exhibit, and which I have spent many hours perusing.

In the second exhibit in addition to other historic items there were two that I thought would interest NavListers. The first is a Latin astronomy text from 1588 by Giovanni Gallucci, which has built in star finders, and the second is a wall-sized world map by Kumamoto Ensai from Japan in 1698. The latter is amazingly accurate coming from a non-seafaring nation. I've posted a few iPhone pictures of these at http://gallery.me.com/gwbburg#100260, but if you're in the Boston area you may want to stop by the museum sometime. (The exhibits will be there until fall 2012.)

Cheers,
GeorgeB
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