Previously:
I believe I had mentioned that a friend of mine in the Association had been tipping me off to gun books online.
I believe I had also mentioned that my tax refund had come in. Plus my bonus payment from my employer is coming this week.
The end result is: I’ve accumulated a bunch more gun books. I have a stack. And I’m way behind in documenting them Lawrence style.
Which is…okay. Except they’re stacking up on the kitchen table, and if I don’t move them in the next few days, I’m going to get griped at. So I thought I’d do a couple a day, maybe every other day, until the backlog is cleared.
No, no, don’t thank me: I run a full service blog here. But I will put in a jump…
Sixguns and Bulleyes, William Reichenbach. Another one for the Samworth collection. Copyright is 1936, but this has the Plantersvlle, SC imprint on the title page and the September 1943 ad page date. Documented in this state in the Smith bibliography. This is a revised and expanded version of an earlier book by Reichenbach, The Elusive Ten, and is a companion volume to his Samworth Automatic Pistol Marksmanship. This one covers shooting the revolver well, instead of the auto pistol.
I’ve read the first chapter so far: Mr. Reichenbach has a sort of light and breezy style, which I enjoy. I’m hoping to get some time to read more of it this week. The book is only 145 pages long. Apparently, judging from this and Automatic Pistol Marksmanship, Mr. Reichenbach knew when to write, and when to shut up.
This was $34 plus shipping from a seller on ABEBooks, and I’m pretty happy with it. There’s very little jacket wear at the top or bottom (it has a plastic protector on it) except for a small chip missing at the top of the spine and a little wear to the right hand top corner. Other than that, this is a very clean copy that I’m quite happy with.
And one of the reasons I wanted to post this one is this statement from the inside advertising pages, which I think sums up Mr. Samworth, his publishing company, and why I like these books so much:
The two books were reprinted in a single volume for the NRA, and also for the Firearms Classic Library. So you can get a nice leather bound reprint off ABEBooks for less than the cost of a dinner out.
English Pistols and Revolvers, J.N. George. This has the Onslow County imprint on the title page and a January 1938 ad page date: per Smith, these are the points that indicate a first edition first printing. He describes this as “having high intrinsic value because of its thorough coverage of the subject” and “moderately scarce”, especially (I gather) with the dust jacket.
From what I can tell, it is what it says on the tin: English pistols and revolvers from Charles I all the way up through the (then) present day. Or wheel-locks, matchlocks, and flintlocks to the Webley-Fosbery .455.
This isn’t in quite as good a shape as the Reichenbach. The top and bottom of the jacket show a fair amount of wear. It really needs a plastic jacket protector. My friend in the Association tipped me off to the listing on eBay, and I paid $70.35 (with shipping) for it. But: before I pulled the trigger on it, I checked ABE. There was only one Samworth edition listed, I don’t think it was a first printing, and while it was a little cheaper, it didn’t sound like it was in as nice a condition as this one. I’d say this is fair to good, and decent shape for an 84 year old book.
John Nigel George was, according to Smith, a highly regarded expert on English firearms. He was killed in action in North Africa in 1942, at the age of 39. Samworth published a companion volume, assembled after his death: English Guns and Rifles, which I don’t have yet. There was apparently only one Sameworth printing of that, but it was reprinted by Stackpole later on. And there was (or is) a CreateSpace paperback reprint, and Firearms Classics Library ones.
Next time, as a change of pace, some more recently published books. Note I say “more recently published”, not “less expensive”.