10, ii, 11-721 pp. With 165 plates, all but three folding, most with multiple views. 11½x7½, modern half calf & marbled boards, original gilt-lettered sipne strip retained, raised bands, new marbled endpapers. Fourth Edition.

George Davidson, an English-born scientist, was associated with the United States Coast Survey for some fifty years. From 1850 to 1857 he headed a team that gave an accurate survey of the entire Pacific Coast of the United States for the use of navigators. The results of this survey were first published in 1853 as the "Directory for the Pacific Coast of the United States," known in later editions as the "Coast Pilot." The third edition (1869) contained only 262 pages and 32 plates. This fourth edition, because of the lapse of time and new information, was entirely rewritten. It not only supplied detailed and authentic navigational information on every part of the coastline, but went beyond that by delving deeply into the historical phases of the subject. The 1889 edition of the Coast Pilot was the last with which Davidson had any direct connection. In later editions, the historical phases of the old work were omitted. (Lewis, George Davidson: p. 138).