8vo. [4], xliii, [1], 94pp, [2]. With an engraved folding plate and a final leaf of publisher’s advertisements. Contemporary gilt-ruled sprinkled calf, contrasting red Morocco lettering-piece. Rubbed, lightly marked, upper joint starting, chipping to head of spine. Early ink-stamp of FORSS* (presumably the Sutherlands of Forss?) to head of title page.

The sole edition of a survey of the history and practical application of artillery in warfare that aims ‘to deduce the rules of gunnery from the principles of motion and gravity, in a manner that seems plain and simple’. The author, John Gray (d. 1769), was a mathematician who taught at Marischal College (later Aberdeen University) where he was also Rector towards the end of his life. Accordingly, the present treatise is highly technical affair that considers gunnery as a branch of practical mathematics. A capable scholar, Gray collaborated with Andrew Reid on a four-part abridgement of the Royal Society's Philosophical Transactions from 1720 to 1732 (also published by Innys). He also worked with William Guthrie on a 12 volume General History of the World, from the Creation to the Present Time.