£450
A lacquered brass Prismatic pocket compass, circa 1820, with hinged wire and prismatic sights, the green printed compass card inscribed Schmalcalder`s PATENT 82 Strand LONDON, the underside of the cover and base both engraved 802 B, 7.5cm diameter, in a worn red leather covered case Together with a hand written note 'Azimuth (sic) Compass- formerly the property of Captn. Marryatt (sic) the novelist- Exhibited by Revd. I. F. N. Rolfe' Captain Frederick Marryat (1792-1848) was a Royal Navy officer, a novelist, and an acquaintance of Charles Dickens. He is noted today as an early pioneer of nautical fiction, particularly for his semi-autobiographical novel Mr Midshipman Easy (1836) as well as for his children's novel The Children of the New Forest (1847). The prismatic compass was invented and patented (no. 3435) in 1812 by Schmalcalder. He traded from 82 Strand until 1826 and 399 Strand from 1827-1840.
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