Guns

The invention of the gun has had lasting consequences upon world history and it is the story of the development of this weapon through six centuries which Dudley Pope has made the centre of an engrossing book. With refreshing simplicity and directness he sets out to describe and illustrate the technical changes the modifications, evolutions and revolutions-which lie between the primitive vase-like guns of the fourteenth century and the sophisticated armoury of a twentieth-century bomber. In fact, it is everyman’s gun book for it will both complement the specialist’s library and stimulate the layman’s interest.

The guns of land, sea and air-all are included, from pairs of exquisitely worked Italian pistols, their ebony stocks inlaid with silver, to the stupendous German gun which fired on Paris in 1918 at a range of sixty-seven miles. The lively text offers insights into some of the personalities vitally involved too: Mohammed II, the first great gunner, Forsyth, the Scottish minister and sportsman whose ardent interest in fowling led him to invent a new firing system, and Samuel Colt, who carved in wood the prototype of his first gun while still in his teens.

The rich variety of pictorial material emphasizes the range which makes this book a valuable contribution to the history of firearms. There are photographs of the guns themselves, together with paintings, engravings, sketches and documents, and, above all, there are Max Millar’s unique and illuminating drawings of weapons and weapon systems.

59 illustrations in full colour and about 300 other illustrations