Our library here bought this set of three books by James D. Gordon. The books are about 11 1/4 by 14 1/4 inches with 509 pages. All color photos and good descriptions of gun makers and indivdual rifles. Volume I is "English" and volume II is "Eastern U.S."
Vol. III covers gunmakers from the Mississippi to the Rockies. There are photos of 37 Hawken rifles, usually a full length lock side, left side to the entry pipe, barrel markings, lock, muzzle, and tang line and toe line photos. I am currently building a couple of Hawkens and these photos have widened my knowledge of how the Hawkens shaped their rifles. There are five marked "J&S Hawken", 23 marked S. Hawken, two marked Wm. Hawken, and seven either illegible or marked only "Hawken". There are also pistols and shotguns.
All 37 seemed to be of maple, and 24 I judged were grade 1 (little or no figure), seven grade 2, and six grade 3, figured full length. I like to build plain ones, you don't need a lot of figure for those graceful lines. One had a checkered pistol grip with a base for a tang mounted peep sight. One seemed to have a "closed buckhorn" sight, like one I saw in the Arches Ntnl. Monument (or whatever its name is) National Park Service museum in St Louis that I saw maybe 10 years ago and photographed, but I can't find my photos.
There is a lot of variation in the nose of the comb and the cheek piece, and the lock panels. The Kit Carson, Jim Bridger, Mariano Modena and Liver Eating Johnson rifles are pictured. There are six full stock rifles. Most keys are inserted from the left. Some rifles are brass mounted, some have long patch boxes, a couple have "cap boxes".
So if you thought you knew what a Hawken rifle looks like, these photos cure you of that idea. I knew there was much variability, but not this much! There is enough detail shown for most rifles that I could build a close copy of any of them, leaving out the wear, damage and repairs. These books are like none you have ever seen before. I called Jim Gordon tonight to order my set. He said it was OK to post his phone numer. It is 505-982-9667 and the set of three books is $295 postpaid to the continental U.S. He owns some of the rifles pictured and has them in a private museum in Sante Fe, NM, open to view upon his availabilty.
