Whipped Cream Difficulties

Continuing my attempt to clean out the backlog…

I don’t think I buy a lot of new expensive gun books. I haven’t bought any of Ian’s, for example: while I am sort of interested in bullpups, French military rifles, and guns of the Chinese warlords, I look at Ian’s prices and say, “I’m not that interested.”

Paying $100+ for a book still gives me the leaping fantods. It has to be something I’m really interested in: either for collector value (like the Samworths) or on a topic I’m interested in (the history of sniping, for example).

So these two represent a departure from my norm. He says that while he considers paying $300 for another book. But in the meantime…

My copy of the second edition of Holstory came in. (Previously. Previously.)

I’ve read the first edition, but I haven’t had a chance to read the new chapters in the second edition, or to try to collate changes between the two. I know $90 is a lot of money to spend on a book, but if you’ve got any interest in holsters, and if you don’t already have a copy, this belongs on your bookshelf.

My one concern with the second edition is that the sources and errata do not appear to be currently available on the book’s website. I don’t know if that’s because there are no errata for the new edition, or if the authors just haven’t gotten around to it yet. They were there for the first edition, so I am assuming they will show up eventually for the second.

FN Browning Pistols: Side Arms That Shaped World History, 3rd Edition, volumes 1 and 2, Anthony Vanderlinden.

I didn’t even know the first two editions existed. And this is a little specific for me. Plus, that price. But Ian sent out an (uncompensated) endorsement and a discount code to his Patreon’s. And Mike the Musicologist is a fan of FN products, so I thought this might be fun to have around as a reference. Also, I love my High Power, and wouldn’t mind having some other FN pistols. (But we’ll get to that.)

These books are huge. They total out to 800+ pages, and each one weighs approximately one ox-stunning unit. The person who picked up the mail from our mailbox griped at me to get my package out of her car, as it was actually too heavy for her to lift. (I’d actually completely forgotten that I’d ordered it.)

And like Holstory, the two books are beautifully designed and presented. Here’s a page from the table of contents:

And here’s two pages on the FN Model 1910, a pistol that is not without historical significance:

You can view more sample pages on the book’s website.

Should you buy this? Well, I haven’t had time to really sit down with it yet. At $150, I’d say it is a hard sell unless you are really into FN pistols in general, or one specific model. If you are a High Power fan like me, this is probably a good reference to add to your library. Likewise if you’re into the 1910. If your interests run more in the direction of contemporary FN pistols (like the 5.7) this isn’t the book for you. That’s not a complaint, just an observation.

Wet Dog Publications also has some other books that look interesting, if you’re a big fan of FN Mausers, the FN-49 military rifle, or Radom pistols.

Next time: some Half-Price Books purchases from this past weekend that were much cheaper, but still interesting.

(Note: I give Ian $1 a month. Most of the people I support on Patreon get $1 a month from me. I’m a big spender.)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 28th, 2022 at 6:05 pm and is filed under Books, Guns, Holsters, Hoplobibilophilia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.