Rare book: Rifle and Light Infantry Tactics, two volumes in one as issued. First edition. Memphis: Southern Publishing House of Hutton & Freligh, 1861. Hardcover re-bound in a beautiful dark leather with marbled boards, 5.75 x 8.5, 202 pages. This Memphis edition is in its rarest first form—unlike later editions, it does not contain the word ‘revised,’ and features a publisher’s notice on the reverse of the title page, in part: “Supplies of this work from the North having been stopped as contraband of war, this edition is got up for practical purposes and immediate use…a considerable portion of remarks and matter, not particularly pertinent has been omitted.” Book condition: VG/None. Beautifully rebound with brown leather spine and marbled paper-covered boards; minimal rubbing along edges; textblock yellowed, moderately foxed, and worn along edges; few pages have small tears and creases (heaviest at original textblock’s ffep, which also holds several ink notes). Hardee’s book modernized infantry drills and tactics, and was popularly used by both Union and Confederate troops. Often called Hardee's Tactics, the book became the best-known drill manual of the Civil War. Exceptionally scarce, this is the only example of the un-revised edition that we have been able to locate. RR Auction COA.
