| Kiwi_bloke |
| (.333 member) |
| 10/10/17 04:44 PM |
Re: Punt gun
|
Just an update for this:
There are certain acknowledged classic texts on puntgunning, the building, equipping and use. Some of these are now very old, rare and very expensive. However this situation took a surprizing recent turn.
First Lessons in the Art of Wildfowling by Abel Chapman.
1896 First edition. Available online from Abe Books from £95 to £267.
There have apparently been no subsequent reprints until...
2017 facsimile softcover/hardcover from India. £9.18 to £10.91.
I now have one of these. Quality is quite good except that the fold-out drawings of the original are shown unfolded in the facsimile. For the price, understandable.
In www.archive.org these were entirely missing!
The Wildfowler in Scotland by John Guille Millais, (Guille is a baptismal name for the family which lived for centuries on Jersey. It is pronounced like the first syllable in Guillotine. Millais like Mill-lay). He was known as Johnny.
The 1st edition, 1901, goes from £45 to £400 pounds Stirling.
1974 is the first Tideline Books edition. £21 to £60.
2005 is the second edition. £20 to £28.
The Complete Waterfowler ashore & afloat by Stanley Duncan.
1911 & 1912 editions. £68 to £232.
Revised 1950. £42 to £81.
The result of this is that, thanks to a 1974 reprint by Tideline, a 2017 facsimile from India and a well-priced 1950 revised issue by Duncan, I now have all 3 without a second mortgage.