A Treatise on Naval Gunnery

4th edition, revised.  viii, 646pp, numerous illustrations (drawings and tables) in text and two folding charts bound in at rear.  In a full brown leather binding with extensive gilt decorations, five panelled spine.  All edges gilt.  Crest and name of Prince Albert, 2nd son of Queen Victoria, emblazoned on upper panel. Delicate filagree gilt dentelles.  Marbled endpapers.  Silk ribbon marker bound in.8vo.  Leather is a little rubbed at edges and around spine, raised bands and joints, slightly scuffed on corners and spine ends.  Gilding bright and vivid barring a couple of small indentations on fore edge.  Some foxing and fingering marks on first and last few pages; gift inscription, from New Year's Day 1858, on flyleaf, together with a bookplate from the Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies indicating the volume's deaccession, else internally neat, clean, bright and tight. A handsome, heavy volume with a pleasing royal connection.  Douglas's Treatise on Naval Gunnery was first published in 1817, with subsequent editions expanded and revised.  It covers the science and practice of naval gunnery during the period of transition from smoothbore to rifled guns, delving into ballistics, gun and cannon design and the tactics of naval combat, including the impact of different types of weaponry on wooden ships.  An important snapshot of naval warfare during a period of significant technological change.  The 1855 edition is generally considered the most substantial and noteworthy.