A Complete System of Bayonet Exercise, Richard Burton. Published by Pierway Inc.; Wayfarer’s Bookshop, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, 2002. A high-quality reprint of the original William Clowes and Sons 1853 edition. Limited to 750 copies. 16mo – 6″ to 7″ tall; 36pp. with a four-page publisher catalog of military titles; illustrated with drawings of cadets at exercise with the bayonet and rifle. Red cloth boards with blind stamped decorated borders front and rear; gilt titles, marbled end papers. In fine condition.
Burton completed work on this manual in Boulogne 1851 while perfecting his fencing skills. Eight sets of exercises are detailed following Burton’s argument that all military training should include extensive work with bayonets. Penzer deemed it one of the most important works on the bayonet ever published. it was taken up by the Royal Horse Guards and long remained in use, affecting changes in the whole European system of bayonet drill until the 1914-18 war. Penzer p. 41-42.
