Memoirs of Transactions at Sea During the War with France; Beginning in 1688, and Ending in 1697

FIRST EDITION, [44], 408p., contemporary tree calf, spine elaborately gilt with floriated motifs, red morocco label, boards ruled in gilt with decorative border, edges marbled, marbled endpapers, joints and spine head repaired, 8vo, London, John Nutt near Stationers Hall, 1703.

One of two issues, distinguished only by the name of the bookseller in the imprint.

Burchett was clerk to Samuel Pepys, the then Secretary of the Admiralty, from about 1680. After falling out with Pepys, he was appointed Lord Admiral Edward Russell’s secretary, serving on Russell’s flagship, the HMS Britannia, at the Battle of Barfleur in 1692. In September 1694 Burchett became Secretary of the Admiralty, a position he held for almost 50 years. The position in the admiralty allowed him access to the materials from which he wrote this work, and a subsequent naval history, both of which are highly regarded. This work contains accounts of various expeditions to the West Indies and the naval battles between the English and French fleets at Newfoundland.

Burchett’s Memoirs of Transactions of the Sea has become a key source of naval history for that era.

[Sabin, 9206; ESTC:T171979; COX II, p.438.]