TWENTY THOUSAND SHOTS: THE WRITINGS OF A.J. LANE, A REMARKABLE VICTORIAN AMATEUR BALLISTICIAN. Compiled with Commentary by David J. Baker.

2018 1st edition. 8vo (159 x 240mm). Pp260. B/w drawings by Mary Ann Gelly, and from engravings. Green boards, spine titled in gilt.

A.J. Lane, whose life spanned the whole of the Victorian period, was a prolific writer of letters and articles, especially in The Field magazine. A keen angler and shooting man, his principal interest, from his earliest days, was in sporting shotguns, marksmanship and ballistics, hence the pen-name by which he became well-known - "One who has fired more than 20,000 shots at marks." He established himself, through many years of experiment and experience (and 173 letters to The Field!) as a practical and respected expert on shotguns and cartridges. His collected articles begin with his idyllic boyhood in rural Sussex - stories of guns and shooting, dogs, skirmishes with poachers, trapping and some fishing. His later writings dwell more on the technical aspects of shotguns and their ballistics, but are always well-written and entertaining, and open up for us a window on an English countryside long-since vanished.