Instructions To Young Marksmen: In All that Relates to the General Construction, Practical Manipulation, Causes and Liability to Error in Making Accurate Performances, and the Theoretic Principles Upon Which Such Accurate Performances are Founded, As Exhibited in the Improved American Rifle

Some foxing to endpapers and pastedowns. A facsimile edition by the Clarke Press for Ned H. Roberts, limited to 525 copies (unnumbered). Originally published in 1848. Decorative cover with shooter in gilt and with titled spine. Includes the original illustrations in reproduction, as well as 50 pages of new material with illustrations. John Ratcliffe Chapman (1815 ? 1899) was an eminent British engineer. He brought his wife, Mary Pollitt Chapman to America in 1842 on HMS Britannia with the great author Charles Dickens aboard. Dickens mentions Chapman briefly as follows in Chapter II of "American Notes, ". . . and that the gentleman carried more guns with him than Robinson Crusoe, wore a shooting-coat, and had two great dogs on board." Chapman invented, designed and manufactured the telescopic rifle sight. He also invented and patented a four-barrel revolving rifle. In his book The Improved American Rifle, Chapman documented the first telescopic sights he showed Morgan James how to make. Together they manufactured the Chapman-James sight. Chapman also showed James how to make the most accurate rifles of the day. Several of these rifles are currently on display at the Army Museum at West Point. Major Ned H. Roberts (1866 Goffstown, N.H. -- 1948) was himself a noted 20th Century American author, hunter, shooter, and marksmen. He was a prolific contributor to sporting publications, including Outdoor Life, Outers, Arms and the Man (later renamed as American Rifleman, and to Hunting and Fishing magazine, for which latter publication he served as Firearms Editor. Roberts published extensively on match target, Schuetzen, and long-range hunting rifles of both the 19th century black powder era and the early 20th century smokeless powder era. After his death, a number of his articles and letters on these subjects were collected and published by Gerald O. Kelver. His published works include The Muzzle-Loading Cap Lock Rifle, Big Game Hunting; white-tailed deer and black bear, and Major Ned H. Roberts and the Schuetzen Rifle edited by Gerald O. Kelver. …