The link worked for me. Thanks, Dennis!
However... I was trying to get ahold of a copy of James Whisker's
Gunsmiths and Allied Tradesmen of Missouri a year or two ago, and had a difficult time of it. I didn't want to just mail a check to Dr. Whisker if the book was not available, and I was unable to reach him to confirm. I bought a copy off Ebay, but the merchant failed to deliver, and my money was refunded. I then bought a copy from Amazon, but found it was a reprint or second edition. Not a bad thing in itself, but I can't believe Dr. Whisker would have approved it. There are numerous typographical errors and redundancies, and apart from the cover illustration (with no identification of the guns shown), there are
no photographs or illustrations of guns. There are a very few reproductions of photographs of gun
makers, but no guns. Oddly, the title page and back cover are illustrated with 21st century paintings of bearded, buckskin-clad "mountain men." This book has all the appearances of a paperback "print on demand" book, by people with no knowledge of or interest in the subject matter, and in fact there is a note on the acknowledgements page that the book was "Printed in the United States of America by Create Space a Division of Amazon" (with no punctuation).
Fortunately, a member of this forum had a stock of Dr. Whisker's books, all brand-new, first editions, that he was selling on the ALR Classifieds. I bought a copy of
Gunsmiths and Allied Tradesmen of Missouri from him, and the book is excellent.
Fortunately, the covers of the first edition and the reprint are different, so you can tell which one you are buying. The first edition (the one you want!) is shown on the left. The Amazon reprint is on the right:
I found there was a difference in formatting, also, in that the first edition has the text arranged in two columns, while in the reprint the text is in a single column extending across each page. For a reference like this, I prefer the two columns, but that is a matter of personal preference. The formatting difference, as well as some redundancy in the text, results in the reprint using a lot more paper, with 242 pages and
no firearm illustrations, as opposed to 128 pages with a lot of full-page gun illustrations in the first edition, and yet the font size in the two books is about the same.
In fairness, the reprint is a very good and comprehensive directory, with plenty of good information, and they actually fixed a couple of errors in alphabetization from the first edition, and if it is your only option, it will still be a good reference. However, I find the first edition preferable in every way. Again, that would be the one on the left, in the photo above.
Finally, both of the Whisker books, first edition and reprint, are simple, alphabetical listings of gunsmiths by name with more or less biographical information derived primarily from census records. For persons interested in old-time gunsmiths of Missouri, I would recommend getting Victor Paul's
Missouri Gunsmiths to 1900 in addition to the Whisker book. While not as comprehensive, Mr. Paul's book has, in addition to the alphabetical listing, a county directory of gunsmiths, more illustrations of historic firearms, and some very useful appendices. The Whisker and Paul books complement each other.
Best regards,
Notchy Bob
