Military & Naval (all items)
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SMITH, John.
The Sea-Man's Grammar and Dictionary, 1692
£4,500
Inevitably less well-known than his descriptive and prescriptive works of colonization, Smith's guidelines to seafarers are of equal importance within their field. Described by...
Small quarto (184 × 140 mm). Later dark blue half calf on marbled boards, title gilt longitudinally to spine. Folding plate of "a ship with all her tackling",... Read more
JAMES, William.
The Naval History of Great Britain, 1837
£4,250
A wonderful set, handsome on the shelf, and immensely enhanced by the addition of a wealth of visual material drawn from contemporary sources such as the Naval Chronicle, Brenton's...
6 volumes bound in 13, octavo (222 × 142 mm). Early twentieth-century navy blue three-quarter morocco, matching linen boards, title gilt direct to spines, raised... Read more
GORDON, William.
The History of the Rise, Progress, and Establishment, of the Independence of the United States of America: 1788
£4,250
First edition. "First full-scale history of this war by an American" (Howes). Born in Hertfordshire in 1727/8, Gordon was educated for the dissenting ministry and ordained in 1754....
4 volumes octavo (214 × 130 mm) Modern sprinkled half sheep on old marbled boards to style, red morocco labels, volume numbers in small gilt roundels,... Read more
LAWRENCE, T. E.
The Diary of T. E. Lawrence MCMXI. 1937
£4,000
First edition, no. 53 of 203 copies, "150 only are for sale", this one of 40 on Medway Paper; the binding is as described by O'Brien for the "one of 30" copies. "After graduating...
Quarto (295 × 235 mm). Original full vellum, title gilt to upper board and spine, Corvinus crow gilt to lower board, ivory silk ties, in plain card cloth slipcase... Read more
BACON, Francis.
Considerations touching a Warre with Spaine. 1629
£4,000
First edition, uncommon, just a handful of copies at auction in the last 30 years. Written in 1624, this essay is dedicated to Charles I, as prince of Wales ("Your Maiestie hath an...
Small quarto (183 × 134 mm). Early twentieth-century dark blue morocco for W.H. Smith, title gilt to spine, raised bands, spine gilt in compartments with foliate... Read more
RICH, Captain E. T.
Views of the Bazar Valley Field Force, 1908, [1908]
£3,875
From the time of the end of the Tirah campaign in 1897-8 the Zakka Khel Afridis had "...remained the persistent enemies of tranquility and progress. Numerous raids in British...
Landscape quarto. Album leaves loose, housed in a blue cloth drop-back box, title - "Photographs" - from the original album mounted on the upper panel. 93 gelatine... Read more
LAL, Mohan.
Life of the Amir Dost Mohammed Khan of Kabul: 1846
£3,750
First edition. A remarkably well-preserved set of this highly desirable work. Perhaps the key source for political and diplomatic background to the First Afghan War. Mohan Lal was...
2 volumes octavo. Publisher's forest green fine combed cloth, title gilt to spines, blind panelling and central lozenge to the boards, mid-cream surface-paper... Read more
SCHOMBERG, Isaac.
The Naval Chronology; or, an Historical Summary of Naval and Maritime Events, 1815
£3,750
First published 1802, this revised edition extremely uncommon, seemingly just 10 complete sets listed on OCLC, BL lists two odd volumes, NMM Caird Library similarly with just two...
5 volumes octavo (210 × 126 mm) Later black half calf, matching grained cloth boards, red morocco title labels, volume numbers direct to spines, marbled edges and... Read more
CHURCHILL, Winston S.
Marlborough. 1949
£3,750
Second Edition 2nd Impression With the author's signed presentation inscription to the front free endpaper on the first volume, "To Sir Edwin Chapman Andrews / from / Winston S....
2 volumes, octavo. Original burgundy cloth, titles to spines gilt, armorial to upper boards gilt. With the dust jackets. With 2 photogravure frontispieces, 14... Read more
CLAUSEWITZ, General Carl von.
On War: 1873
£3,500
First full English edition of Clausewitz' Vom Kriege, which was first published 1832-4 as part of his posthumous works. In view of a recent estimation of On War as "the most...
Large octavo. Original blue cloth, vermilion paper label to spine, compartments formed of triple gilt rules, panelling in black to the boards, brown surface-paper... Read more
JENKINS, James.
The Martial Achievements of Great Britain and Her Allies; from 1799 to 1815. c.1822
£3,500
First published 1814-5, the text in this copy watermarked preponderantly in 1812, the plates 1819-22, the interleaves 1820. As Abbey explains "copies have been seen with paper marked...
Folio (33 9 × 276 mm) Twentieth-century royal blue crushed morocco by Birdsall, title gilt to spine, raised bands, double gilt ruled panels to the compartments,... Read more
ORME, Edward.
Historic Military and Naval Anecdotes, 1819, but c.1825
£3,500
Early state, the plates watermarked 1825, text variously 1811, 1812, 1817. The plates have issue dates between 1815 and 1818, and were first assembled in book form in 1819. Abbey and...
Folio (334 × 270 mm). Twentieth-century royal blue crushed morocco by Birdsall, title gilt to spine, raised bands, double gilt ruled panels to the compartments,... Read more
BOHAN , François Philibert Loubat de.
Extraits de l'Examen Critique du Militaire Française, 1820
£3,500
Neatly written and clearly legible manuscript copy of Bohan's important and uncommon work. Originally published in Geneva 1781, "The third volume, including some extracts of the...
3 volumes in 2, octavo (183 × 115 mm). Contemporary full calf , flat spines, red morocco title- and numbering-pieces, compartments gilt alternately with repeated... Read more
FORTESCUE, The Hon. J. W.
A History of the British Army. 1911-35
£3,500
Publication began in 1899 and the final volume was first published in 1930. This set is, as usual, of mixed editions, the last 6 volumes being firsts. So truly a lifetime's work, and...
13 volumes in 20, 14 text volumes and 6 maps volumes, original red cloth, titles gilt to spines. In the dust jackets. Numerous folding coloured maps. Light browning,... Read more
SUTHERLAND, William.
Britain's Glory: or Ship-Building Unvail'd. 1729 & 1717
£3,500
Second "edition" of the first, & first of the second part. Sutherland had worked for many years as a master carpenter and then inspector and overseer of shipwrights in the naval...
Folio (336 × 203 mm). Two parts bound in one, the second with a separate title page, The Prices of the Labour in Ship-Building Adjusted: or, the Mystery of... Read more
CLARKE, James Stanier, & John McArthur.
The Life of Admiral Lord Nelson, K.B. From His Lordship's Manuscripts. 1809
£3,250
First edition. "One of the main foundation stones of the Nelson legend" (Wilson, "Nelson Apotheosised" in Cannadine (ed.), Admiral Lord Nelson). McArthur, a former naval purser, had...
2 volumes, quarto (340 × 270 mm). Contemporary calf, rebacked with the original spines laid down, raised bands, wavy rolled tooling to the bands, gilt lozenges to... Read more
DOYLE, Arthur Conan.
The War in South Africa. Its Cause and Conduct. 1902]
£3,250
First edition, first issue, a printer's setting copy of the work that won Doyle his knighthood, with autograph corrections towards the second issue on two pages. Doyle had...
Octavo. Original wraps, lacks the upper wrap. Housed in dark brown quarter morocco on marbled paper box, red morocco labels to the spine. Lacks title page, half-title... Read more
(NAVAL REGULATIONS)
Regulations and Instructions relating to His Majesty's Service at Sea. 1806
£3,250
First issued in 1731, these are the fundamental regulations governing "the organization and discipline of the British Navy" (Uden & Cooper, A Dictionary of British Ships and Seamen),...
Quarto (266 × 206 mm). Contemporary sprinkled calf, red morocco label, compartments formed of a single gilt beaded roll. Large folding table, examples of forms to... Read more
ROGERS, Woodes.
A Cruising Voyage Round the World: 1718
£3,250
First published in 1712, Woodes's journal was an immediate success and is widely considered to be "a buccaneering classic" (Hill). Born in Bristol around 1679, Rogers made an...
Octavo (196 × 118 mm). Contemporary sprinkled calf, red morocco label to the spine, bands, double rules to the compartments, double ruled panels to the boards,... Read more
CLAUSEWITZ, General Carl von.
On War: 1873
£3,000
First full English edition of Clausewitz' Vom Kriege, which was first published 1832-4 as part of his posthumous works. In view of a recent estimation of On War as "the most...
Large octavo. Original blue cloth, vermilion paper label to spine, compartments formed of triple gilt rules, panelling in black to the boards, brown surface-paper... Read more
(MILITARY)
Report on Foreign Manoeuvres. 1907–12. 1908-13
£3,000
First editions of an extremely uncommon series of confidential reports. The print-runs were between 550 to 800, but institutional holdings (just a single copy of an issue for 1906...
6 volumes, octavo. Original red cloth, title gilt to the spines and upper boards. Half-tone illustrations from photographs and line drawings to the text, diagrams,... Read more
[EXQUEMELIN, Alexandre Olivier]
Histoire des Avanturiers, 1688
£3,000
Second French edition. Sabin describes the first French edition, published two years previously to this, as "of extreme rarity". Translated by Frontignières, who utilized the...
2 volumes, small octavo. (157 × 97 mm) bound in one. Contemporary mottled sheep trade binding, raised bands to the spine, double fillet panel containing floral... Read more
LESTOCK, Richard & Thomas Mathews.
Collection of 10 Pamphlets relating to the Controversy concerning the Battle of Toulon 1744-5
£3,000
First editions. An interesting selection of publications offering insight into this perfect exemplar of the eighteenth-century naval controversy, questions of ship-handling, the...
10 octavo pamphlets, all uncut, most unopened, sewn in original wraps as issued. Housed in a black cloth solander box. 4 folding maps and a folding table to the first... Read more
JOHNS, W. E.
Biggles & Co. 1936
£2,750
First edition, first impression. Scarce in the dust jacket.
Octavo. Original grey cloth, titles and airplane decorations to spine and upper board in blue, blue top-stain. With the dust jacket. Colour frontispiece and 6... Read more
BRYANT, Arthur.
Autograph manuscript, "The Summer of Dunkirk." 1943
£2,750
The original working manuscript of Bryant's celebrated article commissioned by The Daily Sketch and published in that newspaper on 3 and 4 June 1943, the third anniversary of the...
Folio, 24 leaves, written in pencil on rectos only. Contemporary presentation binding by Birdsall in full red crushed morocco, titles to upper board gilt, two raised... Read more
