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Sextant and Books

Sextant and books

This brass sextant was made in London in the nineteenth century. It is believed to be one of the pieces of scientific apparatus that Joseph Caldwell purchased for the university in 1824. The sextant is owned by the North Carolina Collection Gallery, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library. The books are The Application of Christianity to the Commercial and Ordinary Affairs of Life, Reverend Thomas Chalmers (Boston: Samuel T. Armstrong, 1821) and Davidson's Latin Grammar Revised, Improved and Enlarged, Hugh Maguire (Baltimore: F. Lucas, 1827). These books represent the emphases on the Greek and Latin classics and Christian piety that were prominent features of the university's curriculum in the 1820s. Both volumes part of the Old Library Collection, North Carolina Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library.