…with one oddity that’s not really a gun book.
This was bought in one lot from Callahan and Company, so there was $8 shipping on top of these prices.
The jump goes here…
Pondoro: Last of the Ivory Hunters, John Taylor. Simon and Schuster, New York, 1955. Too late for Riling, and not listed in Biscotti, but it is listed in Czech’s bibliography.
John “Pondoro” Taylor was a pretty famous African big-game hunter and (allegedly) ivory poacher, who had decades of experience. He was a big fan of large-bore double rifles, especially the .375 H&H Magnum. He invented the “Taylor knock-out factor” which is sort of a stopping power equivalent for hunting cartridges. And he wrote several books. I think I may have a non-Samworth copy of African Rifles and Cartridges, and a reprint of Maneaters and Marauders. I also have, and have read, Peter Hathaway Capstick’s biography, A Man Called Lion: The Life and Times of John Howard Pondoro Taylor. So adding this to my library seemed like a rational choice.
This is more of an autobiography and account of his adventures in Africa than most of his other books, which concentrate on the specifics of African hunting. Taylor’s life ended badly, though that’s not covered in this book. He was kicked out of Africa for reasons and forced to settle in London, where he couldn’t find employment that suited his particular talents. Even though he was an expert African hunter, none of the major gunmakers wanted to employ him as a salesman or otherwise (again, for reasons), and he died in poverty in 1969.
As far as I can tell, this is a true first in fairly nice shape. There are some small chips to the top and bottom of the spine, and one to the bottom rear. I don’t think the jacket is faded beyond normal aging, but I can’t tell for sure as I don’t have another copy to compare it to. I paid $75.
Tiger Man, Julian Duguid. The Century Company, New York, 1932. Not in Riling, not in Biscotti, not in Czech. Perhaps because this is more about South American hunting.
I think I first read about Sasha Siemel in Capstick’s Death in the Silent Places. He was born in Latvia, moved to the US, then moved to Argentina. He eventually fetched up in Brazil, worked in the diamond mines there, and learned from a native how to kill jaguars with a spear. Siemel claimed to have killed over 300 jaguars, 31 with the spear.
Julian Duguid, who was apparently something of an adventurer, went on an expedition with three other men in Brazil. They employed Siemel as their guide, and Duguid was sufficiently impressed to write a biography of him. (Duguid also wrote a book about the expedition, Green Hell.) Siemel also did some acting, got married, and had kids. Eventually Siemel and his family moved to a farm in Pennsylvania, but Siemel continued to lead regular expeditions. He wrote his autobiography, Tigrero!, which Samuel Fuller was trying to film. (There’s actually a documentary about Fuller’s attempt, featuring Fuller and Jim Jarmusch. I want to see this.)
Siemel died in 1970, at the age of 80. That seems to me to be a pretty good run for a guy who hunted jaguars with just a spear.
This is also, as far as I can tell, a true first, and is in pretty fair shape for a 93 year old book. There’s the one big chip out of the bottom front jacket, and scattered smaller chips mostly at the edges and spine. It was also a bit more expensive than Taylor’s book – $95 – but I’ve never seen a copy of this for sale anywhere else. None of the copies currently on ABE even have a jacket, and most are going for even more.
Pistol and Revolver Shooting, A.L.A. Himmelwright. Outing Publishing Company, New York, 1915. At last! Riling 1655 (but see below). Also in Biscotti.
Wikipedia has an extensive entry on Abraham Lincoln Artman Himmelwright, who sounds like an interesting character. He was an engineer and general manager of The Roebling Construction Company (that’s the Roebling that built the Brooklyn Bridge). He was a prolific author: Wikipedia credits him with a first-hand account of the Johnstown flood, and a pseudonymous account of the “Carlin Hunting Party”. (The “Carlin Hunting Party” went hunting in the Bitterroot Mountains in Idaho. It did not end well.) He established himself as an expert on fireproof construction techniques and wrote extensively on that subject. And he was an expert marksman.
I haven’t had a chance to sit down and read it yet, but from what I can tell, this is Himmelwright’s book on the basics of shooting for the newcomer, much like Sixguns and Bulleyes, Automatic Pistol Shooting, and some of the other books I’ve written about. Bibliographic information on this is a little sketchy. As best as I can piece together from Riling, this was originally published in 1908 as The Pistol and Revolver, and was revised and reprinted several times by several publishers. I believe this was not issued with a jacket, but I can’t be 100% sure on that.
The book feels a little floppy, and has some edge wear, but seems to me to be in pretty darn good overall shape for a 100+ year old copy. To my mind, well worth the $22 I paid. (There are currently two copies on ABE, both at about $16, and neither one is as nice.)
Vampiro: The Vampire Bat in Fact and Fantasy, David E. Brown. High-Lonesome Books, Silver City, New Mexico, 1994.
This is the non-gun oddity. High-Lonesome is still around, and you can order a copy from them. 148 pages on the natural history and lore of the vampire bat. This is the kind of curiosity that tickles my imp of the perverse, so I figured why not pick this up with the rest of the order? I paid $10, but it looks like you can get it from High-Lonesome direct for $4. Like new, except there’s a small scratch on the back cover. (I may have put that there. I’m not sure.)
Next time: metallic sights, gun-related woodworking (not stocks), 20,000 shots and other shotgun tales, and the possums return to Tasmania.