Books by Carl P. Russell

[GDM]

I hope this is the right place to post this but I recently found some books in an antique store that were by Carl P. Russell. Both were hard back books in their original dust covers. One was " Guns on the Early Frontier" and the second was " Firearms,Traps and tools of the Mountain Men". The latter was a first editon and in very good shape but was pretty pricey. Does anyone know of these books? Do they know if they are factual or way of base from true History? I might be interested in them if they are good factual books. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thank ye kindly in advance!

 

[tenngun]

Written in the 40s, a lot of new info has been found since then. This is not to say they aren't good. Both are very good. By no means the last word, but full of good research.. And lots of fun.

 

[George]

I have both in paperback, and as far as I know they are still considered basic reference books. Guns on the Early Frontier was published first in 1957, Firearms, Traps and Tools in 1967, so aren't the latest, but anyone interested in the topics should have them on their shelf.

Spence

 

[crockett]

Guns of the Early Frontier is the harder of the two to find but the other is widely available and I wouldn't pay too much for it.
Carl P. Russell was one of the first to start researching historically accurate material and most of what he wrote is good however he got a few things wrong. He seemed to think Russell Green River knives made it to the Rendezvous and that dorsal spring "Spanish Lock Knives" were popular in the American colonies. Nevertheless the Traps, Tools, Firearms is a really good introductory source with information on traps and other tools. I think it is well worth owning. I'd buy Guns on the Early Frontier as well, lots of good, basic information.
The other trouble with Russell is his footnotes. I just assumed they were accurate but a few things didn't make sense so I started checking out his footnotes and he did not always accurately quote the original source, he assumed things and added them for explanation.
So, good source but you need to keep an open mind.
Russell deserves credit for all he did, as I said he started without any prior sources to help him. We have learned a lot since then.

 

[GDM]

Thank you all Gentlemen. That does help out a lot. I appreciate the information.