The News-Readers Pocket-Book: or, a Military Dictionary... And a Naval Dictionary...

John NEWBERY (publisher).

The News-Readers Pocket-Book: or, a Military Dictionary. Explaining the most difficult Terms made use of in Fortification, Gunnery, and the whole Compass of the Military Art. And a Naval Dictionary ...To which is added, a Concise Political History of Europe. With the Genealogies and Families of several Emperors, Kings, and Princes, now reigning. London: Printed for J. Newbery, 1759. 12mo, signed in 6s (5 1/2 x 3 3/8in; 140 x 86mm). Pp. [i-ii; i-]iii-vi; 1-216. 1 folding engraved plate. Half-title. (Lower margin of folding plate shaved with loss of neat lines). Near-contemporary grey sugar-paper covered boards (soiled, rubbed, damage to backstrip). Provenance: Thomas Cradock (inscription dated 1816).

First edition. “A Man who has himself no Knowledge of the Things he talks about, can never convey any to another; for it is a Maxim, I think, universally established , that no one can give what he has not: Yet that Attempt is frequently made, every Day’s Observation will testify” (preface)

Consists of four distinct sections: a Military Dictionary; a Naval Dictionary;a Political History of Europe; the Royal Families of Europe. With passing references to the colonies in the Americas.

Roscoe A385(1), noting that the "Military Dictionary" section is an enlarged edition of a part of Newbery's "Flanders Delineated", 1745. Whilst not aimed specifically at children, this is a typical Newbery instructional and educational publication. The Preface, presumably by Newbery himself, describes one who reads the newspapers without thoroughly understanding technical terms as "as great a Philosopher as the Parrot who was taught to repeat the Sentences in Sir Isaac Newton's Postulata, concerning Attraction and Repulsion".