I hadn’t been buying anything for a while, because I was in the “no purchasing anything for yourself” holiday period.
But we went out for a bit over the MLK weekend, and I ran across some things at Half-Price Books. After the jump, some previously undocumented purchases…
Advanced Gunsmithing, W.F. Vickery. Small Arms Technical Publishing Company, Plantersville, SC, 1940. Riling 2341.
Yes, another Samworth for the collection. My book buddy in the Association says this is a 1945 reprint, as the ads differ from his 1940 edition. (The 1940 edition was Onslow County, not Plantersville.) This edition includes ads for four Alvin Linden Samworth’s, three of which were published in 1941. (Linden died in 1946.) Smith documents two 1943 and one 1946 editions, and the 1946 edition includes post-1944 books on the ad pages (none are listed in this edition), so I do think this is a later printing. The title page only has a 1940 date, and like all Samworths, there’s no printer’s key.
This was actually an online purchase through ABEBooks. HPB did have a copy of this, but it was fairly ratty, lacked a dust jacket, and they wanted $75 for it. I paid $105 (including shipping) for what I think is a much better copy. There is some wear to the top and bottom dust jacket, I think most visible on the spine:
But it isn’t an obnoxious amount of wear, especially for an 80-year old book with the dust jacket. ABE currently lists two copies, one at $70 with no jacket, one at $100 with no jacket but signed by Mr. Samworth.
HPB did have some of those Palladium Press reprint editions. I’ve mostly been avoiding those in favor of actual firsts, but I picked up three of them this time. They were reasonably priced, not reprints of Samworth books, and I had reasons:
- Rifle-Craft and The Shooter’s Guide by C.S. Landis.
- Practical Dope on the Big Bores by F.C. Ness.
- The Modern Pistol by Walter Winans.
The Landis was purchased for two reasons: I wanted to read Jim Casada’s introduction to see if he provided more biographical detail on Judge Landis. He didn’t. But he says these books are rare, so even a reprint edition is probably worth having. ABE currently has two firsts of Rifle-Craft listed, one with no jacket, and two of The Shooter’s Guide, which was actually a softcover promotional booklet published by the old Hercules Powder Company. (ABE currently lists two copies of that as well.)
Walter Winans was an important marksman of the early 20th Century. He won a gold medal for shooting at the 1908 Olympics, a silver medal in 1912, and another gold medal for sculpture (no, really, they had Olympic sculpture completions from 1912 to 1948) in 1912. He also wrote ten books: two of them, interestingly, are on Project Gutenberg.
As for F.C. Ness, I can’t find a lot of information on him, but Big Bores was on my list. All three of these are really placeholders/reading copies until I pick up true firsts, but that might be down the road a bit (unless I get lucky). If I do replace them, I can always flip these copies and make back at least part of what I spent.
Guns and Ammo for Big Game Hunting, Elmer Keith. Petersen Publishing, Los Angeles, 1965.
Ah. Lovable cranky old Elmer Keith. I’ve written about him before, and I’m sure I will again. One of my ongoing projects in addition to the Samworths is to complete my collection of Keith books, and I feel like I’m well on the way to that goal.
Bought for $60.62 back in October on eBay, based on a tip from my gun buddy. This seems to be about the going rate, or a little below, on ABE. I’d say it is almost in fine shape, except there’s about a 1/2″ chip at the top of the spine, a 1/8″ chip at the bottom of the spine, and some discoloration. But you really couldn’t tell this from the front or back covers, only looking directly at the spine.
Next time: I have a fever, and the only cure is…more cowbell bibliographies.
My grandmother always said, “starve a cold, feed a fever”, so you are doing it right. And from the looks of the books you got, you are doing it on some books by some interesting and well rounded people. Project Gutenberg? From a gun enthusiast, that is pretty unusual, but that is kind of how real people are. They have interests in many things, not just one.
That is the problem with me, I have many hobbies that I like, but can’t afford to feed them all. Guns, Ham Radio, Fishing, Photography, in high school I was also involved in school sports and a bunch of other things. My one son asked me how I found time for classes. I felt bad and had to tell him I had sort of a photographic memory, and got a 3.0 without studying.
Have a great week and Happy Groundhog’s Day!