Gentlemen: Many of you know that I have a new old-time shotgun book in the works--Parker Guns: Shooting Flying and the American Experience--and some persons interested in double shotguns have already placed pre-publication orders for the Special Limited Signed Edition--$99.95 plus $7.50 Priority Mail S&H ($107.45) to: Old Reliable Publishing Box 4 Davis IL 61019.
The Trade Edition is listed pre-publication on Internet sites (Amazon, Barnes & Nobel, Borders, etc.) and is included in some gun book dealer catalogs (Gunnerman, for example). The book will be available by Labor Day.
Actual status: Composition and typesetting are done at Collector Books of Paducha KY. There are 368 pages, color throughout, 550 pictures, 122,000 words of text/content, and 18,500 more words as captions to the pictures. CB says I will have the laser cut (previously called "galley proof") in my hands within the week, then I'll have two weeks to fly speck and tweak. The final corrected (hopefully perfect) disc goes to the printer by July 1st.
The manuscript was peer reviewed by Vic Venters, Senior Editor of Shooting Sportsman magazine, who also wrote the Introduction. Other peer reviewers were Mike Carrick (Q&A Editor at The Gun Report); Kevin McCormack (author, collector, editor); Dave "Researcher" Noreen (author, collector); Bruce Day (patent attorney, served PGCA BOD, collector); Ludo Wurfbain (owner Sports Afield magazine and Safari Press); Austin Hogan (collector and editor/publisher of Parker Pages, the journal of the PGCA); and Charlie Price (collector and co-author of The Parker Story). My publisher Collector Books, a division of Schroeder Publishing, is a major player in the collecting genre. This is not a subsidy publishing venture like almost every gun book of late. This is the real thing!
It's a done deal! I will be done taking orders for the Special Signed Limited Edition by mail as of June 15th, and at the "Yooper" MI shoot in person that weekend. I intend to limit the previously stated 500-copy Ltd Ed run to actual orders received prior to leaving in my motor home for Alaska in mid-June. I will be back by Labor Day, when the book will be released, Ltd Ed's signed, and mailed. I will be at the Vintage Cup in MD later in September. But I do not intend to carry an inventory of unsold copies for casual purchasers or trickle-in orders. The Trade Edition, however, will be universally available.
I know there are always some who feel that a website such as this should be devoted to "simon pure" posts about how many fairies can dance on a hinge pin, but bear with me; I have been bombarded with phone calls and e-mails since I returned to the states two weeks ago after wasting' away in Margaritaville since January. For those who have expressed interest and/or bought a copy (or two) of the Special Signed Limited Edition, your cancelled check is your receipt. Thank you. For others who care about such things, I can be reached at;
knightofthetrigger@yahoo.com
For those who want to use plastic, sorry, no Visa or MC, but I do take PayPal at this e-mail address.
Ed Muderlak
