Extra-illustrated manuscript and print compiled book on 19th-century artillery
Notes on Artillery.
Woolwich: Boddy and Co., Printers, Artillery Place, 1872.
Price: $2,500.00
About the item
Illustrated. Various pagings, 35 plates (chiefly color). 4to. Extra-illustrated manuscript and print compiled book on 19th-century artillery. Quarter-bound in black morocco over paper boards, some wear.
Item #318106
Compiled by W. A. E. St. Clair in 1872, this fascinating student manuscript provides a glimpse into 19th-century British artillery manufacture with detailed descriptions of the entire process of making gunpowder. The book includes handwriting and mathematical figures bound in with the printed portions. Glosses in the margins indicate the pages were trimmed when the entire compilation was rebound.
St. Clair was first commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers in April 1873, and later commanded No. 4 Company Bombay Sappers and Miners in Afghanistan (1879-1881), and was present at Sibi, the Nari Pass, Kandahar, Harnai and Chapper Rift. During the Egyptian campaign he served with the 10th Railway Company where he was detailed to survey and stake out the line for the Suakin-Berber Railway. As the printed portion of the book was published in 1872, St. Clair most likely worked with the book as a student, providing his own extra illustrations and commentary.