Book recommendations to identify flintlock pistols

[Larks]

I was sure that I had seen a good thread here quite a while back on book recommendations but for the life of me I can’t find it again, so forgive me for what must be an oft asked question (and what may actually be easily found if I knew what to look for and where to look):

I am after recommendations for reference books to aid in identifying age/era and origin of flintlocks by the lock type/style, proof stamps, ornamentations, fittings and so on....(early 18th to early 19th C)

Is there one good reference book that covers this sort of thing well or do you need to pull together multiple references as appears to be the case from my frugal searching?

I’m very new to this so a child in the woods as far as learning about flintlocks and while there does seem to be plenty out there (in terms of reference books), without being able to see what I’d be buying first I don’t know just how useful they’d be.

many thanks in advance

Greg

 

[TFoley]

There is no single book to the identification of guns in the way that you have described them. Such is the variety and incredible number of small-scale gunmakers until the establishment of national manufacturing - mainly for military usage - that such a single volume would likely weigh as much as a small sedan.

Just ask Dave Person how many reference books HE has. I'm not a builder, just an interested person, but I've probably got around 100 books about early guns, and walk past many others to find the one I'm looking for. And I don't even have a flintlock pistol!!

 

[Larks]

Thankyou. I didn’t really expect there to be one single comprehensive book, but can you make any recommendations at all? Particularly on roughly dating locks and and possibly identifying their origin.

 

[Zonie]

The book, "Pistols of the World" by Claude Blair, © 1968, gives a good coverage of Wheel-lock, Snaphance, Percussion and modern guns we don't talk about.
Most of the book deals with the types of guns we do discuss.
In the back of the book there are drawings of various lock types including Miquelet, Snaphance, wheel-lock, Japanese Matchlock and several flintlocks like the one in this picture.

Another few pages show the typical grip's used on pistols over the ages.
There are photos of hundreds of pistols in this book and I recommend it to anyone who is interested in old handguns.

 

[Larks]

Thankyou Zonie, your response is very much appreciated though “Pistols of the world” appears to be a very generic book and I am specifically interested in flintlocks only and learning about the various "identifiers” that tell the story of the flintlock.

For example, lacking clearly visible stamps and complete proof marks, I understand that the design of the lock and various elements of it, such as the style of the cock and the extent of the “curl” on the end of the frizzen shank, can give me hints about the age/era of production, the style of furnishings on the grip - such as the length of the wings (?) extending up from the butt plate on so..... distinguishing patterns in the furnishings, such as an acorn, carvings in the grip etc tell me something about its origin.......

But it’s all new to me and rather than just post photos of a pistol here and ask someone to identify it and tell me something about it I’d much rather learn about it and decipher it myself as best as I possibly can - and then perhaps come back here and ask for opinions on my findings.