THE ART OF SHOOTING. By Charles Lancaster.

(1889) 1945 11th edition. 8vo (140 x 216mm). Pp188[189-208ads]. B/w illustrations. Orange-red cloth, upper board and spine titled in black.

A perennially popular self-instructor which has run to many editions. Many good full-page illustrations demonstrating points discussed in the text. This book is "...still regarded ...as the finest work on the art of shooting. The author of the book was H.A.A.Thorn who purchased Charles Lancaster's business, including the right to his name, in 1878. Thorn was the first man to claim that he could see shot in the air." Fred Buller 1985. The adverts in the back of this edition contain a sketch of the careers of a number of gunmaking firms, including Charles Lancaster's. Lancaster distinguished himself in the early part of his career for his exceptionally fine gun barrels, which he supplied to other makers, contributing greatly to their own reputations. For this eleventh edition "Some alterations suggested by recent experience have been made in Part I but few new facts have had to be recorded in Part II. In the blank caused by the war years, no improvement or development in the making of guns was possible as manufacture was entirely suspended..."