Eastwind Publishing for The Historical Society of Berks County,
Date of Publication
2009.
Physical Description
vii, 103 p. : col. ill., col. map ; 23 x 29 cm.
Notes
Includes index.
"This book is published in conjunction with The Historical Society of Berks County exhibit, Berks County Longrifles & Gunmakers, held in the Fall of 2009. It is a concise look at the firearms made in Berks County from the 1750s through 1900 ... The rifles and other artifacts shown in this book are the same as displayed in the exhibit, and although other gunsmiths may be mentioned occasionally, the book's intention is to feature only the examples in the exhibit. The collection of firearms is in no way the limit of the guns made in Berks County during its 150-year reign of gun making. Indeed, it only scratches the surface of the 170 or so gunsmiths that worked in the County during that century and a half. It is not my goal to give a detailed history of firearms in America ... What the exhibit and book feature are some of the most important examples of firearms ever produced in Berks County"-Source: Publisher
Contents
Preface -- Author's note -- Born of necessity -- Centers of Berks County gun making [map] -- Centers of gun making in Berks County -- The early Reading gunsmiths -- The Blue Mountain gunsmiths -- The Tulpehocken gunsmiths -- The Oley Valley gunsmiths -- Below the Schuylkill gunsmiths -- Reading redux: James Schnader, Nelson Delaney, Louis Royet & the end of Berks County gunmaking.
