DOUGLAS, Sir Howard, A Treatise on Naval Gunnery, First Edition (1820)

London: John Murray, Albemarle Street, 1820. First edition.

A scarce first edition of the standard nineteenth century treatise on British naval gunnery, written after the Royal Navy's frigate defeats of the War of 1812. It was published with Admiralty approval.

xii, 320 pp. Five folding engraved plates of gunnery apparatus and fleet manoeuvres, and 23 tables, four of them folding, including Table XXI showing the angles subtended by the masts of French ships of war. Octavo, 22 x 14.5 cm. Later quarter blue cloth over marbled paper boards, with red morocco spine labels lettered in gilt "Naval Gunnery," "Douglas" and "1820." New endpapers. 

Sir Howard Douglas (1776 to 1861), soldier and military scientist, was the son of Admiral Sir Charles Douglas, who introduced flintlocks for firing naval guns. Several of Plate IV's figures show a gunlock of that type. The Royal Navy had lost a run of single ship actions to the heavier American frigates in 1812. Douglas set out the case for scientific, systematic training in naval gunnery, covering its theoretical, practical and tactical sides: ranges, charges, sighting and the estimation of distance at sea. The book was read widely in Britain and abroad in translation. Its influence led to the founding of the Royal Navy's gunnery school, HMS Excellent, in 1830. Douglas revised and expanded it through several later editions, and it remained the authority on the subject for decades.

Neatly rebound, square and firm, the cloth and boards clean. Foxing to the title page and dedication, with offsetting from the title onto the facing leaf. Lighter scattered and very occasional foxing to the text block. All tables and plates present with some light offsetting. The rear hinge has cracked from the new binding, with no loss of text. Folding plates and folding tables complete and clean, opening without tears.

A very good copy of the scarce first edition of a key work in the history of naval warfare, in a sympathetic later binding.