Office Furniture Tables: In European furniture, elaborate and gilded tables began to appear in the finest stately houses and palaces. Tables covered in gesso and carved detail were much prized, but it was not until the mid- to late 17th century that tables designed for a particular role began to develop their own distinctive style and character.
The two sets of tables most widely used by American navigators are both published by the United States Navy Hydrographic office furniture tables. The Tables of Computed Altitude and Azimuth, Hydrographic office furniture tables Publication No. 214, are recommended for use by mariners. These tables, in nine volumes, are entered with assumed latitude of the observer, declination of the celestial body, and meridian angle of the body. Altitude and azimuth angle are taken directly from the table, usually with single interpolation for the declination. |
