ENGLISH GUNMAKERS: THE BIRMINGHAM AND PROVINCIAL GUN TRADE IN THE 18TH AND 19TH CENTURY. By De Witt Bailey and Douglas A. Nie.

1978 1st edition. Large 8vo (187 x 252mm). Pp127. B/w photographs from old advertisements, maps, tables, extensive bibliography. Red boards, spine titled in gilt.

An attempt to catalogue the many hundreds of individuals and firms that comprised the English gun trade during the flintlock and percussion eras. "The lists of gunmakers, gunsmiths, barrel makers, gun lock makers, stockers and gun warehouses are presented in three sections. The first deals with the Birmingham gun trade from its beginnings at the close of the seventeenth century to 1900 and, where possible, includes birth or death dates and relevant firearms patents; the second section lists provincial makers by the towns in which they worked, so that the size of the gun trade in any one town, its possible concentration in one area, and its rise and decline may easily be seen. The third section is an alphabetic listing of the provincial makers for ready reference, and contains the town and county of operation and the dates when the man is known to have been working. Appendices include a tabulation of the distribution of gunmakers by county and town and an extensive bibliography of published and unpublished books, periodicals and directories. As a basic reference source of information on English gunmakers, this book represents a very considerable step forward: collectors will find it of inestimable value in dating weapons, and students of English firearms will be enabled to form a clearer and more accurate picture of a very complex and highly skilled trade."