British Light Infantry in the Eighteenth Century.: (An Introduction to "Sir John Moore's System of Training").

London: Hutchinson & Co.,, 1925. First and only contemporary edition of this key contribution to the history of the development of light infantry by one of Britain's leading military theorists. Decidedly uncommon in collectable condition. "Fuller was a light infantry man and it was natural that he should take pride in the achievements of his own regiment, the 43rd/52nd Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. Indeed the evidence suggests that he became interested in Moore - perhaps the greatest light infantryman produced by the British Army - when still a subaltern. There was one other reason for his interest, Moore... was a good example of the soldier-intellectual who could put his ideas into practice" (Reid, p. 102). As usual with Fuller, underlying painstaking historical analysis was a personal project, in this case the promotion of an Experimental Brigade, modelled on Moore's Shorncliffe Camp, to work through his current tactical theories, the Daily Telegraph reviewer remarking that at this time he was "less a pure historian than a prophet with an historical text" (quoted in Trythall p. 105) Octavo. Original blue cloth, spine lettered in gilt. Portrait frontispiece and 7 other plates, all but one of them folding. Lightly rubbed, spine slightly sunned, crumpled head and tail and with a couple of small associated nicks, moderate browning front, back, and edges, text-block typically a little toned, remains very good. Brian Holden Reid, J. F. C. Fuller: Military Thinker, 1987; Trythall, 'Boney' Fuller. The Intellectual General 1878-1966, 1977.