African Rifles & Cartridges

Beautiful genuine forest green pigskin Saderra leather with Himalaya grain that cover hardbound boards accented with 22-karat gold stamping debossed designs on the front and rear, that are in excellent condition, like new. Spine is also brass-die stamped in 22-karat gold lettering with four raised bands for both text and additional designs. The boards show absolutely no edge wear nor is there any bumping to the corners – all are sharp. The spine and binding are straight and tight, hinges are firmly attached to the decorative 300-denier silk moiré endpapers. The text block is firm. Beautiful gold gilt page edges on all sides. Ribbon bookmark is intact and wrapped in volume as from publisher. The interior pages are clean with no tears, cracks, or previous owner marks. A stunning book filled with charts, black & white photographs, and intext illustrations. First 1995 Edition (based on 1948 Edition) 431 including index. Dimensions: H – 9-1/2" W – 6-1/4"

This special edition is part of The Firearms Classics Library published by Odysseus Editions for the National Rifle Association and its National Firearms Museum. There are 133 books in the series with the earliest books in the series issued in 1995, of which this book is #4. The books are of various sizes since they are based on original works that were not re-typeset.

John Howard "Pondoro" Taylor (1904 – 1969) was born in Dublin, Ireland and his parents paid for his passage to Cape Town in the 1920's where he was to become a big-game hunter and ivory poacher. In Africa he experimented extensively with different types of rifles and calibers which made him an expert in big game rifles and an authority able to write numerous books. He hunted over thirty years on the African continent, killing over 1,000 elephants many of them illegally. In his later years he was forced to leave Africa due to his poaching offences (and alleged rumors that he was homosexual). Returning to London he found little work and his last years were spent in poverty.