Firearms Curiosa

Washington DC: National Rifle Association, 1996. Privately Printed Edition for Members of the Firearms Classics Library. Pigskin binding. Good. [6], 281, [1] pages. Editor's Note by Jim Casada. Bibliography. Index. Cover has minor wear and soiling. Contents include Combination Weapons, Miniature Firearms, Two-Barrel Revolvers, Two-Cylinder Revolvers, Squeezers, Knucklebusters, Alarm Guns, Trap Guns, Knife Pistol, Cane Guns, Disguised Guns, Superposed Loads, Turret Guns, Chain Guns. The film for this largely facsimile edition was prepared from an original 1955 edition. The book was printed and bound by Quebecor Printing. The paper was specially made for this edition by P. H. Glatfelter Company. The binding is of genuine pigskin, furnished by the Cromwell Leather Company. Endleaves are 300-denier silk moire. Edges are gilded and spines are brass-die stamped in 22-karat gold. Cover stampings and design of the edition by Selma Ordewer. This book is filled with pictures of rare, strange and unusual guns, firearms and other weapons. Lewis Winant was a major dealer and collector of firearms. He assembled here more than 300 pieces. The many strange and freakish gun fabrications that are shown in this book are a tribute to man's inventive energy as applied to the development of arms. From days just past and from days long gone, Lewis Winant has selected over 300 pieces as representative of the oddities that have been constructed to utilize the propelling force of gunpowder. There are pistols in flashlights, purses, plows, whips, bicycle handlebars, stirrups, keys, pipes, belts, sundials, and other contrivances. There are other types classified as oddities. These remarkable firearms come from more than fifty collections. Lewis Winant was one of those gentlemen collectors who flourished during what we might call the Golden Age of Gun Collecting. This period ran roughly from 1946 and 1960, when many firearms that had been "liberated" from European and Asian collections began filtering out into the American consumer market. As Gun Digest Magazine columnist Phillip Peterson could attest to, hundreds of thousands of collectible firearms made the long trek across the Atlantic after World War II, and they weren't all Lugers and P-38s. It was a time when men like Robert Abels, Herb Glass, Joseph Kindig, Jr., George R. Numrich, Jr., and James Serven really came into their own. Gun collecting had existed as a hobby before World War II (the greatest of these organizations, the Ohio Gun Collectors Association, was founded in 1937), but it was the Second World War that pumped new life into the hobby, both in the form of vintage guns as well as gun-conscious hobbyists, many of whom had just returned from service abroad. As far as we know, Lewis Winant's first book was Pepperbox Firearms, the first American book-length treatment of the subject. It was published in 1952 by Greenberg Publishing of New York City. In 1959, Lewis Winant hit the big time, as far as publishing is concerned, with his classic Early Percussion Firearms: A History of Early Percussion Firearms Ignition - from Forsyth to Winchester .44/40. Jim Casada's formal education includes a B. A. in history from King University, an M. A. in British history from Virginia Tech,and a Ph. D. in British imperial history from Vanderbilt University. He taught at Winthrop University from 1971-1996 before devoting all his energies to writing. While at Winthrop he rose to the rank of full professor, served two terms as chair of the graduate faculty, was recognized as the institution's Distinguished Professor in 1983, and won numerous excellence in teaching awards. As an academician, he wrote several books, roughly a hundred articles, and reviewed numerous books for scholarly journals. He is a long-time member of a number of outdoor writers' groups and has served as president of the Outdoor Writers Association of America, the Southeastern Outdoor Press Association (SEOPA), and the South Carolina Outdoor Press Association (SCOPe), as well as being a founding board member of the Professional Outdoor Media Association.