Sep 30, 2010 - Sale 2223

Sale 2223 - Lot 53

Unsold
Estimate: $ 500 - $ 750
(CIVIL WAR.) [Benton, James Gilchrist.] [A Course of Instruction in Ordnance and Gunnery], partial copy marked for revision. Pages 193-518, interleaved with blank leaves, about 30 of them bearing manuscript notes, clippings, and illustrations. 8vo, 1/2 calf, moderate wear, joints starting, loose; intermittent marginal notes in ink and pencil; signed and dated "J.G. Benton April 2/61" on front free endpaper. Additional clippings and memoranda laid in. [Washington, 1861], with notes from 1862-74

Additional Details

A partial proof of the 1861 second edition, marked up with the author's notes for revision as he learned of new ammunition and techniques. Benton apparently received this proof ten days before the attack on Fort Sumter launched the Civil War. One of the Civil War's key training manuals, marked up with war-time notes by a Union officer as the theories of combat became tested on the battlefield. See also lot 44.