First edition of one of the first purpose-written instruction manuals for the training of officers in the British Army. It explains proper use of the sword, both on foot and horseback, with 29 plates illustrating the various techniques. It was written because the author realised swordsmanship was lacking in the British Army. Other manuals from the time only explained how to draw and return swords, so the present work filled in an important gap. It was used in the army for 23 years.
John Gaspard Le Marchant (1766-1812) was a major general of the English cavalry. After fighting in Flanders, he realised that the swordsmanship of the cavalry from other countries was far superior to his own, as the British often slashed either themselves of their horses by accident. Determined to change this, he first began to practice himself. However, he found that the sword was actually too long to be easily used on horseback, so designed a new, shorter one, based on the measurements of Andrea Ferrara, a 16th-century Venetian swordmaker. His design remained in use for 20 years. He then established the Royal Military College at High Wycombe, and the Army Staff College at Camberley, to properly train officers. With King George III's approval, he also wrote the present work, which became the first British centrally standardised sword fighting manual.
The work describes the drawing and returning of the sword, guarding, 6 types of cut and how to execute them, different modes of parrying on both the left and right, drills on foot and horseback, and the words of command. The exercises are clear and simply explained. Most of them are illustrated by beautiful plates. The work was republished multiple times, but the present edition is the first. However, there were two issues of the first edition printed in the same year, one with 90 and one with 98 numbered pages. The text is identical in both issues, but it is set differently, resulting in a different amount of pages. It is not known which was the first. However, the present, 90-page, issue is the rarest of the two.
With a contemporary ownership annotation ("797, 11 April Peter Rhodes") on the title page. The work has been rebacked, with the original title label laid down, the edges and corners of the boards are scuffed, the boards have been scratched and chipped, resulting in some loss of leather on the back, which has been filled in with a dark paint. The work is slightly browned and foxed throughout, a few plates are slightly torn along the fold, the margins of some of the plates have been cut smaller to ease folding, without affecting the image, lacking the final blank. Otherwise in good condition. Pardoel 919.01 (under Fawcett, William); Thimm, p. 250; Yallop, H., "The sword exercises of the British Cavalry: 1796-1858," in: Acta periodica duellatorum, 8, (1), 2020, pp. 123-156.