Between the Covers

Hardcover. First editions. Small octavo. 18 volumes totaling approximately 230pp. 10 volumes contain a chart (one fold-out), and three contain fold-out graphs. Bound with wrappers into black clothcovered boards with spine gilt and page edges sprinkled red. Several volumes with ownership stamps or signatures, or inked or stamped notes on the cover. A clean sammelband, save for a large dampstain on the front endpapers causing light rippling on the first 30 pages or so and unobtrusive occasional staining at the very top of the gutter, one fold-out graph with about ¼ missing, and occasional small chips or tears on the wrappers; altogether very good.

A bound series of Army-issued instructional pamphlets dating from 1898 to 1909, which were distributed to manufacturers of smokeless powders (guncotton, Ballistite, Cordite, etc.) to instruct them on the specifications required by the U.S. Army. The pamphlets range in length, anywhere from six to 30 pages. The earliest pamphlet stands out as it is comprised primarily of mimeographed pages from specifications written for three earlier contracts, one from 1895 and two from 1897, and is the only volume in the collection constructed in this manner. We suspect that before these specifications were made more generalized in these frequently updated pamphlets, they were written out contract by contract. Three of the pamphlets contain the owner signature of Odus Creamer Horney on the front wrapper. Horney was in charge of the building and launching of the Army's first smokeless powder factory starting in 1907, while in command of the Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey.

The collection contains two titles that eventually combine into one. *Specifications for Smokeless Powders for Cannon* later titled, *Specifications Governing the Manufacture of Smokeless Powder for Cannon* and *Standard Methods of Chemical Tests of Nitrocellulose and of Smokeless Powder for Cannon* eventually combine into *Official Methods for Examination of Nitrocellulose and of Smokeless Powder for Cannon and Specifications Governing Manufacture of the Same* for about a year before the title was changed to, *No. 405, Instructions to Bidders and Specifications Governing the Manufacture, Test, and Inspection of Nitrocellulose and of Smokeless Powder for Cannon*. A complete list of each title and a brief description is available upon request.

As a collection, this chronicles the evolution of the criteria required by the US Army for the manufacture of smokeless powders when that technology was still quite new in terms of use. *OCLC* locates four individual pamphlets, but we could not find a similar example of this expansive collection.

Item #553425