1776 FERGUSON BREECH LOADING RIFLE PATENT WITH PATRICK

A.D. 1776...No. 1139. Breech-loading Fire-arms. FERGUSON'S SPECIFICATION. 2nd Edition. Redhill [London]: Printed for His Majesty's Stationery Office by Love & Malcomson, Ltd, 1912. Quarto, 5 pp. with folding plan. Rare British Patent Office reprinting of the original 1st edition of Patrick Ferguson's patent of 1776, including measured drawings of his breechloading rifle improvements. Very bright and clean in original binding. [with] Ferguson, James. "Two Scottish Soldiers: A Soldier of 1688 and Blenheim A Soldier of the American Revolution." Aberdeen: D. Wylie & Son, 1888. First Edition. Blue cloth binding lettered and decorated in gilt. Bevelled edges. A clean copy with no ownership inscription and little foxing. Pp.ix[iii],176. 8 illustrations including plate frontispiece showing the Ferguson Rifle, with illustrations on front and rear board. Three essays on (1) Brigadier Ferguson who was in the Scots brigade, became a Colonel in the Cameronians and was a Brigadier at Blenheim; (2) Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick Ferguson who invented the breechloading rifle and fought in the American War of Independence and later killed at King's Mountain in 1780. Written by a descendant. This fine copy was from the library of noted late 19th century arms magnate, Francis Bannerman, and bears his embossed seal on the upper right corner of the title page. JLK From an important Charleston, South Carolina collection.