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tom in nc

45 Cal.
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I have several old gun books and Civil War history books. I love them and would have even more but the price for old gun books is often more than I can justify. Hard to pay $75-100 for a book.
 
In 1982 I got a postcard from Charles Hanson at the MFT. He had found a couple books I was looking for: Chittenden's 2 volume set The American Fur Trade of the Far West: A History of the Pioneer Trading Posts and Early Fur Companies of the Missouri Valley and the Rocky Mountains and the Overland Commerce with Santa Fe. These were the first, and at the time, only edition.

School had just gotten out for the summer, but I was too young to have a driver's license. I walked to the museum (cross-country, roughly 200 miles) and paid $300 for the books. I didn't want to wait for the mail. Looking back, I think that was the start of my serious book problem. When I learned the reprints were coming, I traded off the first editions at a reasonable profit.

Chittenden has now been reprinted at least twice, you can usually find the reprints for ~$15 per volume. You can also read it online for free.
 
My favorite is still the Dixie Gun Works Catalogue. It is just filled with tons of stuff and loading information, etc.
 
I have quite a few books on guns, reloading, shooting and muzzleloading. I lucked out many decades ago as most will at some point in their lives. I was browsing around in a used book store when I came upon a new looking hardback copy of "Sixguns" by Elmer Keith (it cost me $5). Since then it has shared shelf space with muzzleloading books. I have never and would not pay a lot of money for a book, never had much $$ anyway. He talks about using c&b revolvers as a kid and that was very interesting. I've found most all ML books are written for duffers and not for BP shooters who are "in the know".
 
If you need good references you can usually get them from the library. Even if it's some young girl working behind the desk, bring the title, the author, the ISBN number, and if you can the OCLC and they can help. Like you said its tough to pay $100 for a book when you can get it from the library for free.
 
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