8vo. [4], xii, 223pp, [1]. Sumptuously bound in contemporary richly gilt-tooled red morocco, contrasting black morocco lettering-piece, A.E.G. Lightly rubbed, a trifle marked, ink-stain to upper board. Marbled endpapers, recent bookplates of John Arthur Brooke and Ian Paton to FEP and FFEP respectively.

The sole edition of British Army officer Thomas Bell's (d.1782) essay on the leading principles of military operations and the conduct of war, 'addressed to the young Gentlemen who chuse the military Life', and encompassing a broad aspect of subjects from campaigning to siege warfare, the cavalry charge, and the use of musket. The Critical Review (Vol. XXIX, 1770) approved of the work; 'This essay is wrote with energy and conciseness...we heartily recommend the perusal of it to all gentlemen and the military profession.'

ESTC records copies at just five locations in the British Isles (BL, Cambridge, King's College London, Oxford, and Royal Artillery Institution), and only three further in North America (Morristown National Historic Park, Newberry, and Princeton).