LONDON GUNMAKERS: HISTORICAL DATA ON THE LONDON GUN TRADE IN THE NINETEENTH AND TWENTIETH CENTURIES. By Nigel Brown.

1998 1st edition. Large 4to (235 x 307mm). Pp280. Colour and b/w photographs, illustrations, end-paper maps, bibliography. Black cloth, upper board and spine titled in gilt.

A history of the London gun manufacturers in the 19th and 20th centuries. Includes an alphabetical list of all gunmakers and related trades, with dates, addresses and changes of name, together with 48 individual business histories. "Beginning with the Mantons in the eighteenth century and continuing with the likes of Purdey, Lang, Lancaster, Beesley, Boss, Holland and Woodward, among many others, British technical expertise and craftsmanship in the production and refinement of high quality sporting weapons has taken and held the lead throughout Europe and the rest of the world. It is some measure of the high regard for the products of the London trade that so many subsequent designs were linked to their makers names by way of description around the world, such as the Purdey bolt, the Beesley / Purdey action, Holland and Holland locks and opening mechanisms and features of the Woodward and Boss over and under designs. This book chronicles the history of the London gun trade by gathering together in one volume the aggregate of surviving historical knowledge about the businesse large and small which between them made the London gun trade what it is. It provides an alphabetical list of all gunmakers and related trades giving their dates, addresses and changes, together with 48 individual histories. There is an alphabetical list of gunmakers' serial number records on a scale never previously achieved and various schedules list those individuals who have taken a leading part in the administration of the trade over the years. The author has also produced, for the first time, an alphabetical index of the brand names used by the various businesses in the London trade in respect of guns, rifles, cartridges and powders."