Firearms: An Illustrated History

Something of a coffee table picture book, which is not a bad thing. This book includes beautiful color pictures of small arms and artillery from matchlocks to modern firearms.I bought this book because I wanted some information about the change over from flintlock firearms to percussion cap weapons; this book answered my questions. For sure, it is a very useful reference work. Particularly beautiful are the pictures of the elaborately inlayed and engraved “Ottoman” rifles from the 17th and 18th centuries.Perhaps it’s nit picking, but I may as well point out a few of the books weaknesses. To begin with, the book was assembled with the expert assistance of four consultants. Three of the four are Brits; Henry, Rimer and Smithhurst. Now, I have nothing against our British friends and they are true experts in their field, but this does give a bias to the entries. American contributions to firearms design as well as descriptions of weapons of interest to American gun enthusiasts have been “thinned” a bit in favor of a more European bias. No doubt, an aspect of this issue is that there is a LOT of ground to cover, but that leads to my second criticism. The book includes artillery. This is surely interesting, but the focus could have been maintained on small arms; small arms alone is a plenty big enough subject area to cover and this would have allowed a more comprehensive treatment of the relevant area of primary interest. And the artillery entries are particularly thin, perhaps because the authors recognized that with this addition, they were wandering a bit out of the main subject area.Notable in being absent from comprehensive discussion are (in no particular order); the M16/AR-15. This is a true oversight as this weapon was ground breaking in the late fifties when it was originally developed. And it is also an excellent example of weapon’s modularity that has been an important development in small arms as they are now a mature technology. There is NO mention what-so-ever of Ronnie Barrett’s contributions to rifle (especially sniper rifle) technology. This is truly unfortunate as his interesting and intimidating rifles have made serious contributions on the modern battlefield. Gas seal revolvers are discussed (the Joseph-Lang; 1855) but little to no mention is made of probably the most famous gas seal revolver of them all; the Belgian designed Nagant.It would have been nice if some of the experts from the NRA National Firearms Museum could have been included on the consultants list. But perhaps that would have led to “too many cooks in the kitchen”. I don’t know. “Firearms: an Illustrated History” is a beautiful book and well worth owning. The subject of firearms is such a large subject area that perhaps is it inevitable that no one book could ever hope to cover everything.

Even if you’re not a big fan of guns (like me), you’ll enjoy this book. Lots of excellent photos display the incredible ingenuity, craftsmanship and artistic embellishment of firearms throughout history. There’s a reason for the immeasurable time and effort devoted to them.“God create men and Sam Colt made them equal!” — Old West AdageDid you know that back in the day, dueling among gentlemen was so common that pistols came in sets (two identical, see pages 106&107) just for that purpose? This was an honorable way to assure there was no advantage. This realization lends to understanding of just how serious the subject of guns can be.The “Great Gunsmiths” write-ups that cover the influence and design history of various people throughout the book is very cool too. Basically, Firearms: An Illustrated History is an outstanding example of all that an excellent history book is.

Beautiful book. Beautiful pics. Quality.My son loved it.

Bought for a weapons afficionado who wanted a coffetable talking piece. They loved it!

Lovely book and well made

I have purchased many of the DK books. They are all great quality, large books filled with color photos. This one was no exception. I got it on sale but honestly, it's probably worth every penny even at full price.

Book is well laid out. Good pics and history. Not in-depth yet fine in formal process. Just got it and did some reading page flipping. Seems fine.

My brother loves this books larger print and the history of the different guns.