Sir William Hope (1660-1724), swordsman, writer and 1st baronet of Kirkliston, was born in Edinburgh and served in the army. He travelled a lot abroad, and was renowned for both his skill in fencing and horsemanship and for the gracefulness and agility of his dancing. He was Deputy Governor of Edinburgh Castle from 1705 until his death which was caused by a fever apparently caught as a result of "over-dancing". This title is the second edition of a work originally published in Edinburgh in 1724. Besides his proficiency as a swordsman Hope was, according to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, "one of the most prolific authors on swordplay, writing between 1687 and 1724 five books that became the unrivalled authorities on their subject for more than fifty years." The work is nicely illustrated with figures demonstrating Hope's techniques and complements the Library's holdings of his other works on the subject. This copy once belonged to a Jacob Neilson, possibly the Highlander of that name who died in 1785 aged almost 80 years, who lived most of his life in London as a musician and as a conchologist.

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography