The collection comprises two volumes of coastal profiles, watercolour views and charts by Edward Henry Columbine, a serving naval officer. Due to the absence of any Admiralty chart publication in the late eighteenth century, few of Columbine’s charts and drawings found their way into print, hence much of this collection is unique. During his lifetime some were published by Faden, a commercial chart publisher. After his death, a few others were published by the newly-founded Admiralty Hydrographic Office. For example, his work formed the basis of the chart of Trinidad published by the Admiralty in 1816.

The first volume, which the author has carefully collated and bound, covers Columbine’s survey activities in the West Indies and northern waters, circa 1782-1802. It includes 18 manuscript charts and about 150 views and landscapes. Most of the islands in the Grenadines and Leeward groups are represented, as well as a good number of the islands on the west coast of Scotland. The charts are meticulously drawn and all show a high standard of draughtsmanship.

The second volume consists of loose leaf material, mainly from Columbine's later career, including Senegal and Sierra Leone in West Africa, circa 1809-1811. High rank and increased responsibility left him less time to finish his material, but there is much historic interest in his detailed drawings of Senegal and Freetown. From the hydrographic side there is a bound series of annotated coastal sketches taken on his survey of Trinidad which tells us much about survey methods at his time and is the sort of material that seldom survives.