Muzzleloader books

[Crockford]

Bought a lot of muzzleloader books mainly because of one book in the lot. Hawken Rifles The Mountain Man's Choice. Was pleasantly surprised when I opened it up and found it was signed by John Baird!

 

[Notchy Bob]

You lucky rascal! That book looks to be in good shape, too!

I missed out on that book when it was still in print... Just kept putting off buying a copy, and then they were gone. I got a used copy off Abe Books about six years ago. Mine has a small water stain on the bottom corner of the back cover, but the book is not warped and is otherwise in good condition.

Anyway, your book is worth whatever you had to pay for it. Somebody needs to put out a good quality reprint. I think there are plenty of folks who would buy a new copy.

Notchy Bob

 

[Crockford]

Notchy, it actually still has the dust cover on it. The cover is in pretty good shape. I think I paid 25$ for the lot and another 30$ for shipping..... There was also two " The Muzzle-Loading Rifle then and now by Walter Cline. One of them still has the plastic wrapper on it, the other is in great shape. I have been looking for that book too. So was a pretty neat buy for me.

 

[The Crisco Kid]

Good Score. I have a copy that my parents got me for Christmas in the mid 70's from Ray Riling Books. It was out of print then and they paid good money for it. When I got it I sent a letter to John Baird telling him to get off his buckskins, take his Hawken to the publisher and demand that the book get back in print so that it was more affordable. I still have the letter that he sent me in the book. Turned out that he was the publisher. It's something I look back on every once in awhile. Of course I remember looking forward to the arrival of the Buckskin Report. Good memories of a bygone time!

Is John Baird still among us or has he "gone over the ridge"?

 

[Crockford]

That is a neat story. I believe he has two other books. I have been on the lookout for them to. I have started but not finished The Hawken book., Baird has a style of writing/storytelling that keeps my attention. I'm sure everything is not 100% correct because I know somethings are lost to history but I believe he has done an extraordinary job collecting information on the Hawken history. I'm also impressed he was able to accomplish this in a time when collecting such information was not as easy as a Google search. I look forward to finishing this book and finding the others.