I have finally crossed enough off of my to-do list, and also resolved some things that other people wanted me to do, so I feel comfortable doing some gun book blogging.
I’m going to start out easy. Two duplicates of books I’ve already blogged (from the Springfield purchase) and two books that I didn’t previously have, but I’ve written about the authors previously.
After the jump…
With British Snipers to the Reich, Captain C. Shore. Small Arms Technical Publishing Company, Georgetown, SC, 1948. Riling 2662. Not in Biscotti. Previously blogged here.
This has the 1948 ad page date and the Georgetown publication listing, which is consistent with Smith‘s listing and the statement that this is the first and only edition.
This is in decent shape. There are a few small tears and chips on the top and bottom of the front, a few larger chips and tears to the top and bottom of the spine, and a fairly large chip (and some smaller tears) at the top rear. It also has a previous owner’s bookplate, but I like their bookplate so it doesn’t bother me.
Military and Sporting Rifle Shooting, Edward C. Crossman. Small-Arms Technical Publishing Company, Marines, Onslow County, North Carolina, 1932. Riling 2122. Also in Biscotti. Previously blogged here.
The rear of the dust jacket lists Plantersville as the SATPCO publishing location, but the title page has Onslow County. This has no ad page date, and “STP CO” above the tail cap: per Smith, these points of issue are consistent with a 1935 second printing.
In my opinion, this is really really nice for a 91 year old book. If you look closely, there are a few small (maybe 1/8″) chips missing at the bottom of the spine, and a small white spot (doesn’t look like a tear, as it doesn’t go all the way through) at the top front. Otherwise, I think this is near perfect, and those defects are really hard to see unless you’re right on top of the book. I think this is at least a “very good” copy.
These two Samworths were part of the batch I bought from my book buddy in Springfield, so maybe call them $50 each. I think that’s slightly under market for a Crossman in this condition. As for the Shore, Smith says this is (was at the time?) highly sought after by military history types. What I think is the closest copy in similar condition on ABEBooks (“Condition: Very Good-. Dust Jacket Condition: Fair”) is listed at $120 plus $35 shipping from a vendor in New Zealand.
Big Game Hunting: For the Novice and the Expert, Major Townsend Whelen. Outers Book Company/Recreation Library, 1923. Riling 1954. Also in Biscotti.
I’ve written before about Townsend Whelen, and Riling says that Wilderness Hunting and Wildcraft was an “extensive revision” of this book. Outers was a large outdoor company (this page says they were founded in 1919), and, under the “Recreation Library” imprint, published a series of these little books on various subjects. (There was one listed on “Motor Camping”, though the entry says it was “temporarily withdrawn”.) Outers is still around today, as a division of Vista Outdoor.
I haven’t read this yet: it is only 99 pages, but I’m a little afraid, as it feels fragile. I’m not sure why I think that, as it seems to be in very good shape for a 103 year old bit of ephemera. There’s nothing on the spine, but I can’t tell for sure if the lettering fell off/peeled away, or if it was originally printed with a blank spine.
The Shooter’s Guide, C.S. Landis. Hercules Powder Company, Wilmigton, Delaware, 1925. Riling 1986. Also in Biscotti.
I’ve written about Mr. Landis before, and will again. (Previews of coming attractions!) This supplements a Palladium Press reprint edition (that also contains Landis’s Rife-Craft) which I‘ve also touched on briefly. As I noted, Jim Casada says these are rare, so when it popped up I jumped on it.
I suspect this was one of those things the Hercules Powder Company sent to folks who wrote in and asked for a copy. Maybe they charged a nickel for it. It is another chunk of pre-Depression history, but seems to me to be in pretty good shape for a 101 year old pamphlet. There’s a little fold/ding at the bottom right front, and some discoloration from the staples rusting. But other than that, I don’t see any flaws: it doesn’t even seem to be age-faded, though I don’t have a mint copy to compare it with.
I don’t know if a reliable bibliography of Mr. Landis exists. Biscotti’s listing for him shows I have all the books, but that listing is missing Rifle-Craft. Riling lists Rifle-Craft and another book, The Use of Rifles for Game and Target. So I need to find both of those, at least.
And I’m going to call “Fair Use” here and try to reproduce one of the illustrations without tearing up the book:
These are from Gayle Hoskins, who went on to do a lot of Landis book covers, and who I have touched on previously when writing about Landis. Per Riling, “The illustrations are reproductions of the best of the ‘Bill and Jim’ series of Hercules Sporting Powder advertisements.” Riling also describes this as “Brief material on out of the way game bird shooting, field shooting, with velocity of charges and speed of game birds.” I have not checked to see if it includes the velocity of an unladen swallow.
These were ordered from Callahan and Company when I found the listings in their catalog. The Whelen was $20. The Landis was (remember, I said it was rare) $125. Plus $7 shipping on the order.
Next time, I want to finish off the Samworths, and I may add a cookbook to that stack. But before I do that, I want to get a gun crankery post up. I think that one will be an easy one, too, as it is going to take off from a previous gun crankery post.
I would also like to plug something that I think is really neat. Helios House Press (the wonderful folks who brought you The Children’s Illustrated Clausewitz, Volume 1) have a Kickstarter going. They are working with the Cody Firearms Museum to put together a book of technical drawings from CFM’s Winchester collection.
The Cody Firearms Museum is not just one of the most impressive firearms museums in the world—it also houses, together with the McCracken Research Library, a collection of approximately 30,000 surviving drawings from the Winchester engineering archive. The documents—hand-drawn design plans covering the company’s work from the 1880s through the 1940s—include blueprints for everything from individual screws to entire guns to the tools used to make the guns to the buildings in which to make them! Some firearms are fully documented in the archive from concept through to final product, complete with drawings of each individual part, while others only survive as partial technical records. Nearly all of the plans were drawn on oversize drafting sheets that enabled designers and engineers to visualize even the small parts easily.
Drawing Fire: Technical Drawings from the Winchester Factory Collection brings together a selection of highlights from this archive, including key drawings for iconic firearms such as the M1 Garand and Winchester 1895, for which there is extensive documentation, as well as a number of lesser-known and prototype weapons, as well as tools and factory drawings. Drawings and other archival sources are supplemented throughout by beautiful original photography from Helios, and short-text summaries from the Cody Firearms Museum and Helios staff.
It feels like these people decided to mash down every button on my control panel. I’m already in. They’ve met their goal, so I’m not exactly begging you to back the project, but if you’re my kind of gun geek, I think you absolutely should take a look at this before the campaign closes on October 16th.