THE GUN AND ITS DEVELOPMENT. By W.W. Greener. Facsimile reprint of ninth edition, 1910.

(1881) 1980s facsimile reprint. Large 8vo (159 x 220mm). Ppxvi,804,xxvii ads. B/w photographs, illustrations. Black boards, spine titled in silver-gilt.

W.W. Greener published the first edition of this book in 1881. Rifle design and munitions were in such a state of rapid development in this period that the book ran to nine revised editions by 1910. This is a facsimile of the ninth edition. Although originally aimed at sportsmen, much of the progress of the era was specifically military, and this is reflected in the content of the book. Chapters on early arms; the invention of gunpowder; early artillery; early hand fire-arms; the percussion system; modern shot-guns; hammerless guns; ejector guns; gun-making; modern methods of gun-making; the proof of guns; tests and test-recording instruments; public gun trials; the shooting capabilites of shot-guns; varieties of shot-guns and their shooting powers; the choice of a gun; how to use the gun; trap shooting; double guns with single triggers; miscellaneous; modern pistols; explosives; internal ballistics; ammunition and accessories; the history of rifling and its development; modern sporting rifles; external ballistics; single-shot military rifles; early repeating rifle mechanisms; modern military magazine rifles; target rifles. This is a facsimile reprint of the 1910 ninth edition.