MATEBELE & CHITRAL CAMPAIGNS (1893-4) AND 1895 : THE MAXIM AUTOMATIC GUN IN ACTION

This book is effectively a sales manual for the new Maxim Automatic ( or Machine) gun invented by Hiram Maxim who is seen proudly brandishing his brainchild in the frontispiece. The book brings together newspaper accounts of small African campaigns in the 1890s to demonstrate how the new wonder weapon can overawe or scythe down even numerically vastly superior enemies. Accompanied by pages of photos showing how the gun can be transported or adapted, the book is an effective demonstration of how lethal technology allowed the western powers to cominate their colonies.

important reference on the Maxim, which became one of the most influential weapons of all time. This “sales” item provides all the current evidence of its effectiveness through descriptions of its use many via articles and press reports. 31pp., folding extract from the London Gazette neatly affixed and folded,(with account of the maxim’s success in defeating a native attack in the Malakand Pass in 1895), together with 20 pages of photographic plates on the maxim and its variations and supporting equipment.