Author:
William Marsden (1754-1836), Anglo-Irish orientalist, numismatist, and linguist, and Royal Navy official, Second Secretary to the Admiralty, 1795-1804, First Secretary, 1804-7 [Marsden Square mapping]
Publication details:
London. ’ 'Printed by G. Roberts, Admiralty Office.' Undated, but issued during Marsden's tenure as First Secretary, 1804-7.
See his entry in the Oxford DNB, which states that ‘it fell to him in October 1805 to wake Lord Barham, as first lord of the Admiralty, with the news of victory at Trafalgar and the death of Nelson’. The present document is an interesting artefact in the history of data collection: Marsden’s important innovation, the system of information-gathering known as ‘Marsden Squares’ or ‘Marsden Square mapping’. 1p, folio. Discoloration and wear along inner edge, otherwise in good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice into a packet. All printed, except for Marsden’s firm signature.