R.L.Wilson

Larry Wilson is a freelance consultant and author in the broad fields of arms and armor, and engraving. His career began with intern positions at the Royal Armouries, H.M. Tower of London and the Corcoran Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.) as well as at the Wadsworth Atheneum (Hartford CT), where he was appointed Curator of Firearms at the age of 23.

He has served on advisory boards or as consultant to numerous museums, as well as various private collectors.

The most published author in the history of arms collecting, Wilson’s career began with Samuel Colt Presents, a 314-page publication of the Wadsworth Atheneum (1961), based on the loan exhibition of the same title, which he organized. The book and exhibition were complex projects accomplished while he was on leave during the second half of his senior year at Carleton College, Northfield MN. There he was a major in history, with minors in art and art history, and was blessed with the encouragement of his professors, and classmates.

Wilson's output continues uninterrupted into the present, with the Fall 2006 publication of LOCK, STOCK & BARREL A Memoir of a Passion for Arms and Adventure (Charles Priore, Jr., compiler). In the spring of 2003, Wilson's publications, videos and career in art and antiques were celebrated by a retrospective exhibition held at the Laurence McKinley Gould Memorial Library at Carleton. An illustrated lecture by Wilson, in the Athenaeum of the college library, was part of the event.

Wilson was born in St. James MN, the son, nephew and grandson of Presbyterian ministers; his mother was a school teacher. A longtime resident of Connecticut, and now residing in San Francisco CA, he is the author of approximately 45 books and more than 230 articles on firearms and engraving subjects. Keenly interested in museums and historic houses since childhood, Wilson has visited over 750 such institutions over the years, ranging from sites with artistic, historical and natural science themes, to country houses and gardens.

In addition to writing books and articles, he has served as consultant on American arms to Christie’s, for whom he was active in organizing the Colt/Christie’s sale of October 1981 and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Arms and Armor Department benefit auction of October 1985 as well as nearly twenty other sales, several of them milestones in the history of arms collecting, setting record prices for American firearms and launching the current popularity of the firearms auction venue.

Publishers of Wilson’s books include Random House (6), Simon & Schuster (2), Ballantine (later Crown)/House of Collectibles (3), Abbeville Press, the Buffalo Bill Historical Center and the Wadsworth Atheneum. Articles have appeared in numerous publications, including most of the popular firearms-related magazines, as well as Audubon, Sports Afield, True, The American West, the French art magazine L’Oeil, and the hardcover automobile magazine, Ferrarisima.

Wilson has been the subject of (or noted in) articles in a variety of newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, M, The Chicago Tribune, Newsday, Business Week, The Houston Chronicle, Esquire, Art and Antiques, Robb Report, Playboy, Forbes, Connoisseur, Forbes FYI, Vanity Fair and Town & Country. For Christmas 1999, "The Today Show" - Gene Shalit - featured Buffalo Bill’s Wild West.

Wilson’s book The Colt Heritage is the only firearms-related work ever nominated for the American Book Awards (1979). That title, later re-issued in an expanded edition as Colt An American Legend (both titles recognized as the official history of Colt firearms), was hailed by publisher/author Michael Korda as "a classic. . .the most beautiful book on firearms ever published and a milestone in modern book design and production". In promotion of the Legend book, Abbeville Press organized a two-week, seven-city author's tour during which Wilson made over 35 radio and television appearances, newspaper interviews, and bookstore signings. Over 185,000 copies of these two Colt titles are in print, in four languages.

"THE HISTORY OF FIREARMS" SERIES & OTHER TITLES

These Colt titles began a series of firearms books of like style and design, on a variety of subjects, termed "The History of Firearms." Next in the series was Winchester An American Legend, appearing in 1991 (50,000 copies in the first edition) - the official history of Winchester firearms and ammunition. The Peacemakers Arms and Adventure in the American West appeared in 1992 and was honored with a Wrangler in the National Cowboy Hall of Fame’s annual Western Heritage Awards program (1993) - the Western Americana equivalent of winning an Oscar.

Colt An American Legend, Winchester An American Legend, The Peacemakers, Steel Canvas (with a foreword by Wm. R. Chaney, Chairman, Tiffany & Co.), and Buffalo Bill's Wild West have been published in foreign language editions: generally in Italian, French and German. Their oblong format, clean design and thorough scholarship have set high standards for quality in the publication of firearms books - and have garnered a following among book collectors.

Key figures in Wilson's career have included his editor at Random House, Robert D. Loomis, his editor at Simon & Schuster, Michael V. Korda (plus, for Ruger & His Guns, Paul McCarthy), his literary agent Peter Riva (since 1990) and artist/photographer Peter Beard. Wilson has collaborated with Beard on six blockbuster, mainstream books, all but one published by Random House. He has also been ably assisted by such talented photographers as G. Allan Brown, Douglas Sandberg and David Wesbrook.

1996 marked the publication of Wilson’s Ruger and His Guns: a History of the Man, the Company and Their Firearms, the official history of Sturm, Ruger & Co., and its founder, William B. Ruger, Sr. Buffalo Bill’s Wild West joined the series in the fall of 1998. In 1999, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West was also honored with a Wrangler,

His next title in the oblong format was The World of Beretta An International Legend, from Random House - published in the fall of 2000. This official volume on the historic Italian gunmaker appeared in French and Italian, in 2001. It was the seventh in Wilson’s series of oblong, specially designed books on firearms.

Next, appearing fall 2003, is SILK & STEEL Women at Arms, a comprehensive history of women in the world of firearms, a field all-too-often thought of as the exclusive domain of men. The book will be accompanied by a traveling exhibition, scheduled to open December 2003 at the Rosenbruch Wildlife Heritage Museum, St. George UT, and then traveling to approximately eight other sites. Riva Production’s Annie Oakley television documentary will follow soon thereafter, an in-depth study of the most high profile lady shooter in history. Yet another TV documentary, based on SILK & STEEL, will follow. SILK & STEEL is sure to be published in French, German and Italian, and likely also in Spanish.

Yet another title, in an entirely different format, was first released in the winter of 1998: The Official Price Guide to Gun Collecting. This 468-page reference work became an annual publication, commencing with the fall of 1999; it is temporary out of print, awaiting the 4^th edition, with text assisted by Charles F. Priore, Jr. and Peter Singer.

Also appearing in the fall of 1999 was FINE COLTS The Dr. Joseph A. Murphy Collection, followed by the 1,000-page, two-volume magnum opus The Colt Engraving Book: volume I in November 2000 and volume II in June 2001.

A UNIQUE MINIATURE & LARGE FORMAT SERIES

In collaboration with Robert M. Lee, the Robert M. Lee Trust and Yellowstone Press, with design by Anne Brockinton/VLP Productions, the author has assisted in a series of lavishly illustrated pocket-format volumes, covering the entire history of best quality firearms: THE ART OF THE GUN. These exquisite volumes will be joined later by the four-volume series, in an 11- x 14-inch landscape format, also entitled THE ART OF THE GUN. The first of the miniatures - each featuring dramatic foldouts and exquisite images on both sides of the strikingly produced dust jackets - appeared in 2002-2003. The large format titles will appear beginning 2004. Designed and produced to the most exacting standards, with photography by David Wesbrook, these books will raise the standard of publishing within the arms and armor field to new levels of perfection, quality and style.

FOREWORDS TO THE BOOKS OF OTHER AUTHORS

Wilson has also authored forewords to several books by other writers. Among those volumes are: Elephants, Ivory and Hunters, by Tony Sanchez-Arino, Thousand Trails of Africa, by Isabel de Quintanilla, Colonel Colt, London, by Joseph G. Rosa, Colt Blackpowder Replica Firearms and Antique Firearms Conversions, by Dennis Adler, and the twin titles The History of Winchester Firearms and The History of Colt Firearms by Dean Boorman.

TELEVISION DOCUMENTARIES & THEATRICAL RELEASE FILMS

A frequent figure on radio and television, Wilson’s national and international programs include: A & E’s The Story of the Gun and The Guns That Tamed the West; numerous episodes in the History Channel’s Tales of the Gun (highest rated programming on that channel), and the new (fall 2003) High Tech West. Other productions in which he was featured include the Discovery Channel’s Gunpower and The Gunfighters; the PBS Frontline documentary Gunfight USA; CNN’s Pinnacle (on William B. Ruger, Sr.), Business Unusual (on Beretta) and a CNN profile. Yet other appearances were on CNN’s Business Day; Good Morning Australia; The Barry Gray Show (New York); documentaries on Channel 4 (London) and Japan Broadcasting TV; and the BBC documentaries The Gun Industry in America and Son of a Gun or How Sam Colt Changed America.

Wilson was scriptwriter for the Sony video presentation Colt Firearms Legends (narrated by Mel Tormé). In the $2.25 million feature length film and video on conservation, hunting and the African safari, In the Blood, Wilson was one of the ‘stars’, as well as co-executive producer (with William E. Simon, Sr.).

As president of Castle View Productions, Wilson produced and was a featured on-screen participant in Mille Miglia: The Most Beautiful Race in the World (1995). He is also collaborating on a 20-hour TV documentary on the history of firearms, with Guy M. Wilson, retired director of The Royal Armouries Museum.

Wilson is also a featured participant in the theatrical-release documentary film, "32:11" - relating the adventures of the above-noted U.S. Express high performance auto race, run on a weekend in early October 1983, from New York City to Newport Beach CA. Wilson and co-driver Dr. John Borkowski, despite being stopped approximately a half dozen times by the police, averaged 85 m.p.h. over the 3,200 miles - running the event in 36 hours 54 minutes, and placing sixth out of twelve cars and one motorcycle. Their car was a Ferrari 308GTB, with an extra fuel tank (in the trunk) holding 12 spare gallons. The winning car, also a 308GTB, set a mileage rate which has never been equaled, remaining to this day the U.S. national coast-to-coast automobile speed record - approximately 100 m.p.h.

APPRAISALS AND MUSEUM COLLECTIONS

As an appraiser of rare firearms, Wilson’s clients have included the Colt Firearms Company, P.R. Phillips, Gene Autry, Monte Hale, Mel Tormé, various members of the Lilly, Ford, Mellon and Deering families, the Sagamore Hill Historic Site, the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, the Autry Museum of Western Heritage, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Buffalo Bill Museum, the Wadsworth Atheneum, the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and the Texas Ranger Museum. He was a consultant to the Wadsworth Atheneum on the lavish exhibition, Sam and Elizabeth: Legend and Legacy of Colt’s Empire (September 1996 to March 1997).

In collaboration with George A. Strichman, late Chairman of the Board of Colt Industries, Wilson organized the Colt Industries Museum Collection (1972-85), as well as Chairman Strichman’s own 170-piece Colt collection. Both arms groups are now featured exhibits at the Autry Museum of Western Heritage. When the Autry Museum was established, Wilson was the first consultant and collaborated extensively in creating the uniquely significant collection of western arms on display at that institution. Expert and renowned dealer/collector Greg Martin also played a vital role in making the Autry the premier exhibit of artistic and historical arms of the American West.

SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

Wilson is past president (1989-1995) of The Armor and Arms Club of New York (founded in 1921) and is currently an Honorary Director of the Texas Gun Collectors Association. He has also served on the board of directors of the National Firearms Museum in Fairfax VA, and is currently on the board of the Eli Whitney Museum in New Haven CT. He has spoken on fine guns and related subjects to The Connecticut Historical Society, the Boone and Crockett Club, the Australian Arms Collectors Society, the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, The Armor and Arms Club of New York, the National Firearms Museum, The Rotary Club of Brescia (Italy) The Mzuri-Safari Foundation, The New York/Tri-State Chapter of Safari Club International and other groups.

BLOCKBUSTER MUSEUM EXHIBITION

In connection with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West, Wilson and co-author Greg Martin (with collector Michael Del Castello) assisted in producing the Royal Armouries Museum major blockbuster exhibition of "Buffalo Bill’s Wild West", at that institution’s $100 million site in Leeds, England. From the initial presentation in the summer of 1999, the collection was featured in special loan exhibitions at the Autry Museum of Western Heritage (Los Angeles) and the Tennessee State Museum (Nashville). The Colorado Historical Society (Denver) was the final site on the tour (opened late January 2001).

NEW BOOKS AND RELATED PROJECTS

Still another project is an exhibition, book and video The Arms of Tiffany & Co. in collaboration with former Tiffany & Co. archivist Janet Zapata. Other current projects include Firesticks and Tomahawks, The Art of War: Military Small Arms of the 20^th Century and The Guns of Manhattan - all key additions to his "History of Firearms" series. Further, negotiations are nearly completed to do a spectacular series of books based on arms treasures of the Smithsonian Institution, likely to be followed by a traveling exhibition, and, hopefully, a TV documentary.

HISTORICAL RE-ENACTMENTS

In early September 2003, and 2004, Wilson was invited to participate in the annual re-enactments of the James and Younger raid on Northfield, Minnesota's 1st National Bank. This event, which attracts more than 200,000 visitors to the historic town over a four day period, celebrates the bravery of townspeople, who in 1876 fought back against the most famous and notorious gang in American history. That local courage, the Flight 93 of its day, led to creation of the celebratory "Defeat of Jesse James Days," launched in the 1950s.

To date Wilson has played the role of Clell Miller, one of the outlaws shot from his horse, and A.R. Manning, a merchant who shot outlaw Bill Chadwell from his horse. A small number of history buffs are members of the exclusive "James and Younger Gang" organized by Chip DeMann for the re-enactments. Bob Boze Bell of True West magazine has said that this re-enactment is the best done of any he has seen of authentic Wild West events. Providing a rare opportunity to revisit his alma mater at Carleton College, Wilson also became involved in assisting the modern Gang in arranging commemorative firearms, to serve as fundraisers in helping to preserve the original bank building and other artifacts of this extraordinary community.

HUNTING AND SHOOTING WORLDWIDE

A keen sportsman, Wilson has pursued game shooting in England, Scotland, France, Spain, Belgium, Italy, Australia, India, Africa, and extensively in the Western Hemisphere, including three trips to Alaska and innumerable shoots in Mexico. He has been on nine African safaris (1970-1989), and is a member of the historic Camp Fire Club of America (founded in 1897). He is also a member of a number of other firearms and conservation organizations as well as a life member of the National Rifle Association. In 2003 he became a professional member of the historic Boone & Crockett Club - America's oldest conservation organization, founded by Theodore Roosevelt in 1887.

In March 2004, at the Nuremberg annual meeting of the World Forum on the Future of Sport Shooting Activities, Wilson was selected as the WFSA Ambassador. This highly coveted award was previously presented to racing champion and crack shot Sir Jackie Stewart and novelist Wilbur Smith.

CHARITABLE WORK

In 1972 Wilson became chairman of the U.S. office of the Tarassuk Appeal, devoting six months in that year and in 1973, promoting efforts to win exit visas from the Soviet Union for Dr. and Mrs. Leonid Tarassuk, their two children, and Tarassuk’s mother. Nearly two years later the Tarassuks were finally allowed to leave, the campaign in the U.S. and Europe having been instrumental in gaining their freedom.

In the early 1980s, Wilson was appointed Chairman of the National Foundation for Firearms Education, headquartered in New York City. Among members of the Foundation board are Michael Korda, Roy Innis (Chairman of CORE), Les Line (conservationist, former Editor, Aubudon Magazine), and President Mark K. Benenson (former Chairman, Amnesty International, USA). The late Mel Tormé was also a board member.

The R.L. Wilson Educational Endowment has been established with the non-profit NRA Foundation, a fund which continues to grow annually. He is also a donor to the National Firearms Museum, and the sponsor of a special display on "The Shot Heard Round the World."

AUTOMOBILE ENTHUSAST AS WELL

A keen auto enthusiast, Wilson has attended numerous Formula I, Indianapolis and endurance events (including the LeMans and Daytona 24 Hours) and has competed in Italy's Mille Miglia (1993-95, '97, '98, '99 and 2000), the Tour de France (antique cars, 1996), and the American U.S. Express (known popularly as the "Cannonball", 1983). He and friend (and car-owner) Hans Schemke star in the one hour video, "Mille Miglia: The Most Beautiful Race in the World," a Kevin James film on the 1995 race, run in a Cisitalia spyder - originally raced to second place in the 1947 event by the legendary Tazio Nuvolari.

[Larry Wilson is] the expert witness in the field.

William E. Simon, Sr.

Larry Wilson’s contributions to the study, collecting, and appreciation of Colt firearms and history have no parallel.

George A. Strichman, Chairman Emeritus, Colt Industries

R.L. Wilson has examined, handled and written about more fine and historical guns than anyone in the entire history of firearms.

Mel Tormé

Larry Wilson . . . is truly the Bernard Berenson of the gun, the ultimate authority, and the most perceptive connoisseur as well as - perhaps just as important - a man who enjoys a good day in the field or at the range putting the gun to use.

Michael Korda, Author, Publisher, VP & Editor-in-Chief,
Simon & Schuster, Inc.

9/03