1804 1st print Thornhill Shooting Directory HUNTING Color Illustrated Sport Guns

1804 1^st print Thornhill Shooting Directory HUNTING Color Illustrated Sport Guns

Richard Thornhill’s ‘Shooting Directory’ is one of, if not the best early 19^th-century shooting and hunting manual. This incredible folio hunting guide is a collection of discussions on hunting dogs, firearms and gunpowder, shooting styles, and of course descriptions of game animals. While hunting books have always been popular amongst sportsmen, this particular book is known to have more draw than most because of its exquisite full-page, color engravings!

This incredibly rare and valuable true first printing includes pages 214-220 which were suppressed from later editions. These pages highly criticized the hunting ability and shooting techniques of King George III. It is certainly because of these claims that, following the publication of this book, Thornhill moved from England to live full-time in Paris.

Item number: #6702

Price: $1950

Note: Interesting provenance, belong to an infamous landlord and slaveowner.

THORNHILL, Richard Badham

The shooting directory,

London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme [by J. Browne] 1804. First edition, true first issue.

Details:

• Collation: Complete with all pages

o    xvi, [2], 432, [6]

o   12 plates

• 8 full-page (7 in color)
• 4 folding
• Provenance:

o   Armorial Bookplate – Gordon of Cluny

o   Handwritten – J. Gordon

• Col. John Gordon of Cluny, MP (1776 – 1858) was a Scottish soldier and Tory politician. Best known for his infamous role in the “Highland Clearances”.
• Under brutal conditions, tenants from his estates on the Outer Hebrides (around 3000 people) were forced to emigrate to Canada in 1851. After the British government introduced the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 Gordon received a compensation payment from it of £24,964. Additionally, his six plantations in the Caribbean island of Tobago had 1383 slaves. (Slade, H Gordon (1981). “Cluny Castle, Aberdeenshire” (PDF). Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. 111: 454–492.)
• On his death in 1858, he was reputed to be the ‘richest commoner in the kingdom’ of Scotland, leaving between £2-3 million (The Times. July 23, 1858).
• Language: English
• Binding: Leather; tight & secure
• Size: ~11.5in X 9.5in (29cm x 24cm)
• Exceedingly rare with auction estimates and price comparisons at over $4,200 (Christies 2017)

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