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Illustrated Catalogue and Price List of Nautical & Optical Instruments Manufactured and Imported by T. S. & J. D. Negus, Chronometer Manufacturers, Compass Adjusters, and Navigation Warehouse…

New York, 1887. Sm 4to (9” x 6”), illustrated wrappers. Sm 4to (9” x 6”), illustrated wrappers. 71 numbered pp. (including one p. 9 ), actually 78 pp., including unnumbered pp. throughout. Occasional manuscript annotations in red ink. CONDITION: Good, light wear to extremities, vertical crease at left side of front wrapper, some splits to wrapper along spine, top .5” perished, chips at edge of leaf inserted following p. 23.

A scarce and attractively illustrated catalog of marine instruments by leading merchants and manufacturers Thomas Shufeldt and John Davidson Negus.

An introductory statement to patrons is followed by accounts proving the quality and reliability of Negus instruments, as well as a variety of testimonials, including an extract from the 1876 expedition report of British arctic explorer George Strong Nares. Among the instruments presented here in such visually pleasing variety are binnacles (compensating, standard deck, yacht, plain, pilot house, etc.); compasses (dry, liquid, tell tale, transparent, pocket); barometers; binoculars and telescopes; sextants, octants, and quadrants; taffrail logs (which measure speed, and including one which “rings a bell every sixth of a mile”); thermometers, barometers, and clocks; lights and lanterns; and, in a somewhat different vein, various flags and burgees.

Founded in 1848 in New York by English-trained chronometer maker Thomas Stewart Negus (1828–1894), the firm of T.S. & J.D. Negus emerged as one of the foremost American manufacturers and dealers in nautical instruments. Initially trading as Thos. S. Negus & Co., Thomas soon incorporated his brother John Davidson Negus (1831–1890), and the firm expanded steadily, relocating several times over the ensuing decades to different addresses on Wall Street, Pearl Street, and (as here) Water Street. Beginning in the Civil War, the firm supplied chronometers and navigational equipment to the United States Navy in addition to its regular clientele of shipmasters and yachtsmen, and by the early twentieth century it was widely regarded as the leading nautical instrument makers in the United States—its chronometers breaking records during the six-month competitive trial at the United States Naval Observatory in 1884, and securing seven out of ten top spots among over forty entrants in 1886. Ownership of the firm passed through several generations of the Negus family—John S., John C., and John S. II—before being sold in 1962 to Max Low & Co., itself a successful wartime supplier of navigational instruments. It continued under Max’s son Charles until finally dissolving in the 1980s.

REFERENCES: “Mathematical Instrument by T. S. & J. D. Negus” at the National Museum of American History Behring Center online.

Item #10046

On Hold

Price: $475.00

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