doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com The Mantons Gunmakers

I have just finished re-reading my copy of the book The Mantons by W. Keith Neal and D.H.L.Back published by Herbert Jenkins.
What a fantastic book with marvelous research which must have taken an age to compile .
But how very sad to read of the demise of two truly great pioneers of gunmaking , especially that of Joseph Manton who has often been described as the father of gunmakers.
Joseph taught many including James Purdey and yet he died destitute , penniless and abandoned It is very sad to read of so many great gunsmiths who fell on hard times which include Frederick Beasley the inventor of the Purdey sidelock action still in use to this day , often copied but never bettered who also died penniless due to drink and being fired from his job at Pudey.

I heartily recommend reading this book to all shotgun enthusiasts.
Salopian

Salopian;

Taking your advice I began looking for a copy of the Mantons. However, I see there is a Supplement to the Manton book--what is it and should I buy it as well?

Kind Regards;
Stephen Howell

Yes, the supplement is as good as the original.

If I remember correctly, I think Paul Stevens has resurrected the name very recently.

As I recall from the "Mantons," James Purdey said "were it not for Joe Manton we would be but a parcel of blacksmiths." Joe Manton said that "Purdey gets up the best work, next to mine."

I have worked on a number of Mantons pictured in that book and let me assure the readers, they are exquisite. In my opinion the Mantons set the standard for best work and others even into the cartridge era just maintained it.

The quality of work done by those men with the tools, material, and the lighting of those days is beyond outstanding.

The Manton books by Neal and Back as well as the Dallas books on Boss, H&H, and Purdey are worth every penny.

Yes John Manton is back, with half a dozen guns being built, a four bour single ( big John ) with new original Damascus barrels is in the pipeline and plans are being worked on for an over and under which will be available in The USA once built, we will keep you guys posted on here.

Yes, a great book as is the supplement.
I acquired a set when I bought an early John Manton percussion (1825).
I’ve learned a lot..
Checkering first appeared about 1775 (pistols)
1/2 Stock long arms about the same time (50 yrs before Hawken)
Competition for new ignition (Perc cap won in the early 1820’s.
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Lots of info!

I too have a few Mantons and when I saw this thread I tried to locate copies. I searched a lot of places and found only two listings for the original book. They were priced around $300. I found 8 or 10 copies of the supplement; all priced at around $70. I finally found a set of the two on eBay in good but used condition for $200 for the pair. They are interesting books. One thing that jumped out in flipping through the original was a set of photos of the original case labels in B&W. They are high quality photos of a size that could be photographed and used for making a really good reproduction label. They may have already been used for this.

I noticed that the original of the book was published in 1966. I noted that Joseph was born in 1766. I wondered if this was by accident or by design.

As mentioned, then books I found were pre-owned. There were two personal library tags on the front piece, but the interesting mark was a penciled label at the top of the inner front dustcover (which is in a protector). It is labelled "Gun" with an underlined and below it the inscription "Dan Manton & Son LTD". Anyone have and idea what the connection might be?