Ordnance Instructions for the Confederate States Navy Relating to the Preparation of Vessels of War for Battle, to the Duties of Officers and Others When at Quarters, to Ordnance and Ordnance Stores, and to Gunnery.; Published by order of the Navy Department.

London, England: Saunders, Otley & Co.). (Printed by Spottiswoode and Co.), 1864. Third edition (i.e., first and only Confederate edition). 8vo. xix, 171, cix pp. 21 plates (17 lettered A-P, with two each for letters C and D and J not used, each labelled "Diagrams" and 4 numbered plates in the appendix), in-text diagrams and tables. The only Ordnance Manual produced for the Confederate Navy, adapted from a United States manual first published in 1852 and reissued in 1860, printed in Great Britain and imported through the blockade. Inscription on the front endpaper "Naval Commandant's Office, / Marion C.H., S.C. / September 1864." The Marion Courthouse Naval Station was constructed on the banks of the Pee Dee River, about 100 miles from the Atlantic coast in the 1862, moving it away from potential bombardments from the water or coastal invasion; two small torpedo boats and the CSS Pee Dee were built there. The station was one of several inland naval facilities constructed in the Confederacy, the largest being in Charlotte, N.C. (cf, "Our Very Own Naval Yard" by Matthew Robinson, SCNOW online). Nevins I, p. 221: "Treats not only of ordnance subjects, but also gives much information concerning preparation for battle." Not in Broadfoot. Rather widely held by research libraries (OCLC locates 33 copies), but rare in trade, with no copy recorded at auction by either ABPC (1976-2017) or RareBookHub (since a 1921 offering by Anderson Galleries); RareBookHub also records a copy offered by Goodspeed in 1937. We know of one copy obtained privately by a collector in the past decade. Bookplate removed from front pastedown, label removed from rear endpaper, but a good solid copy of a rare book with an outstanding Confederate association. Contemporary half-calf and pebbled brown cloth (base of spine chipped, joints cracked, but repaired and sound, occasional light foxing, bookplate removed from front pastedown, label removed from rear endpaper), gilt spine title, edges sprinkled red. (10186). Item #63492

Price: $6,500.00