A GUIDE TO GUN COLLECTING. By Geoffrey Boothroyd.

(1961) 1965 reprint. Hardback issue.* 8vo (130 x 190mm). Pp192. B/w photographs, illustrations, bibliography. Laminated boards.

"Due to the increased interest in collecting firearms, prices have risen and guns have become scarcer. The present-day collector is turning increasingly to 'vintage' rather than antique arms, the latter being in many cases far beyond his means. It is the aim of this book to provide the background information to enable the embryo collector to broaden his interests and enlarge the scope of his endeavours." Chapters include: Invention of gunpowder; The matchlock; The wheellock; Development of the flintlock; Military flintlocks; Sporting flintlocks and the blunderbuss; Flintlock pistols; Forsyth and the percussion principle; Percussion rifles and capping carbines; Development of the revolver; Percussion revolvers perfected; Early breechloaders; Breechloading repeaters; Smokeless powders and thier influence on design; Revolvers and automatics; Collecting guns; Shooting old guns; Cleaning and repairs; The law and the collector; Proof and other marks. * This copy states on the imprint page "...reprinted in this paperback edition 1965." It is however a hardback copy in a laminated boards binding with dust-wrapper.