(LONGITUDE ACT). ~ An Act to render more effectual an Act made in the Twelfth Year of the Reign of Her late Majesty Queen Anne, intituled, An Act for providing a publick Reward for such Person or Persons as shall discover the Longitude at Sea, with regard to the making Experiments of Proposals made for discovering the Longitude; and to enlarge the Number of Commissioners for putting in Execution the said Act. London: printed by Thomas Baskett; and by the assigns of Robert Baskett, 1753.
Small folio (288 × 182 mm), pp. [2], 399-403, [1], including general title with woodcut arms, black letter text. Recent paper spine. An excellent copy.
First edition. The 1714 Longitude Act was established the Board of Longitude and offered monetary rewards for anyone who could find a simple and practical method for the precise determination of a ship’s longitude. It was modified in several subsequent Acts, including the present, making another £2000 pounds available for experimentation and recording that John Harrison had received £1250 for his initial determinations.
Though separately published with a general title for a complete sitting of Parliament, individual Acts of Parliament were paginated to be bound together in yearly volumes hence the pagination 399-403 here.