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Lock, Stock, and Barrel
A Memoir of a Passion for Arms and Adventure
compiled by Charles F. Priore, Jr.,
Science Librarian, Gould Memorial Library, Carleton College
Published by Yellowstone Press
Lock, Stock & Barrel is the chronicle of the life of R.L. Wilson, the most published writer in the annals of one of the most popular of themes in the world of collectibles. From boyhood Wilson combined a fascination with collecting and studying weaponry, linked later with a dedication to hunting and conservation. The son, nephew and grandson of Presbyterian clergymen, Wilson grew up in Minnesota, exposed to history, art, music and literature by parents who early recognized his passion was set on a determined trajectory.
From the beginning Wilson had the advantages of counsel and encouragement from collectors, dealers, museum curators and directors, authors, editors, publishers, and media luminaries. Family travels introduced him to the importance of seeing historic sites and artifacts firsthand. Weekly jaunts to the Stagecoach Museum, Shakopee, Minnesota, offered ample opportunities to handle arms and accoutrements, and learn of the published word on these subjects.
Attending trade shows, such as the fledgling Minnesota Weapons Collectors Association, was a further revelation, offering the opportunity to meet enthusiasts of like interests. As a beginning collector, Wilson and his brother Jack put together a group of 75 antique and modern firearms by the time they were 14 and 16 respectively.
While in grade school and high school, Wilson remained focused on his passion, presenting talks and writing papers, and preparing for a career as a museum curator - even though his curatorial hopes were greeted by Southwest High School (Minneapolis) civics teacher William Adam, with the somewhat condescending observation: "So you want to take care of old dead things!"
Applying to Yale University, and to Macalester and Carleton Colleges, the next step in his education was at the latter, majoring in history with a minor in art and art history. With the keen encouragement of his professors, he was able to channel that growing passion and dedication into studies on dueling in America, on the American West, and on a range of arms and armor subjects. The college assisted in setting up summer intern positions at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, which led to a similar position the following summer at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art (owners of the private arms collection, art and memorabilia of Colonel and Mrs. Samuel Colt).
For the first semester of his senior year at Carleton, under auspices of an Experiment in International Living program, Wilson served an internship at the Royal Armouries, H.M. Tower of London (only the second American to do so), and added to that experience with a three-week trip through Germany, Austria, Italy and France, studying private and museum arms and armor collections.
Returning to the U.S., he was granted a one-year leave of absence from Carleton to organize the most extensive loan exhibition of Colt firearms held up to that point in American Museum history: "Samuel Colt Presents," accompanied by his first book - some 313 pages - documenting the landmark event.
On completion of that project, Wilson visited Europe a second time, hand-carrying copies of the new book to present to various participating institutions, including the Windsor Castle Armory, and the Armouries at H.M. Tower of London. Early friends and advisors such as Atheneum decorative arts curator Henry P. Maynard and Director C.C. Cunningham as well as arms dealer Herb Glass wielded an enormous influence on the breadth of Wilson¹s scholarly interests: in most cases, arms and armor enthusiasts tend to become over-specialized.
From the beginning Wilson was keen on "anything with a trigger" and at the Tower Armouries developed a fascination with armor, edged weapons and the like. William Reid and Sir James Gow Mann, Master of the Armouries, H.M. Tower of London, saw that his education there led to greatly expanded horizons. Wilson¹s first published article was on the rare and captivating matchlock "Gonne shields" of King Henry VIIIth (in Muzzle Blasts magazine, 1958).
Following the Corcoran Gallery, Wadsworth Atheneum and Royal Armouries internships, Wilson¹s career had a momentum of its own. He has since authored some 45 books, approximately 10 auction catalogues, some 230 articles, and in excess of 1,500 documenting letters and/or appraisals on fine guns. Further, he has appeared in over 35 documentaries for television, co-produced (with the Hon. William E. Simon) a feature film ‹ "In the Blood" (also released as a video) ‹ and has traveled to some 50 countries, and hunted on five continents, including nine expeditions to Africa. Millions have watched him on television, and millions are familiar with his extensive writings
The only arms writer regularly published by mainstream houses, his works are in English, German, French, Italian, and Japanese. But what he regards as his most significant and far-reaching work will appear under the imprint of Random House in the fall of 2003: Silk and Steel Women at Arms, a review of 650 years of women owning, shooting, collecting, engraving and manufacturing firearms.
Despite this intense concentration, this has not been a life devoted exclusively to arms and armor. Wilson¹s passions include fine and decorative arts, architecture (particularly historic houses), automobiles and automobile racing, documents, photography, food, restaurants, wines, and the amenities of travel. He has visited over 750 museums and historic sites, primarily in the United States, the U.K., and continental Europe, and has assisted numerous museums and foundations in their own pursuit of arms.
Though traveling for as much as ten months a year can interfere with family life, he treasures his three sons, one daughter, and two grandchildren, all but the latter either out of the nest, or nearing completion of their college education. His father-in-law was renowned hand bookbinder Arno Werner, and his wife (of ten years), Charlotte Werner, is herself a gifted bookbinder, artisan and chef.
Wilson has been attacked by lion and elephant, froze his ears while in St. Petersburg (Russia; 1967), drove in a cannonball coast-to-coast automobile race (New York City to Newport Beach, California: completed in 36 hours, 54 minutes), raced in seven of Italy¹s Mille Miglias (the most beautiful and famous of international auto races), rolled his Peugeot sports sedan and walked away from it, attended numerous Indy 500, LeMans 24-hour, and Monaco Grand Prix, authored the official histories of the world¹s foremost gunmakers (Colt, Ruger, Winchester and Beretta), rubbed elbows with the rich and famous, and jumped into the family swimming pool to save his youngest son Stephen (age two) from an otherwise certain drowning (neither father nor son knew how to swim).
Wilson has seen as much fine arms and armor as anyone in history. Today he works primarily from his office/apartment on historic Telegraph Hill in San Francisco, near several sites where some of the weapons about which he researches and writes were put into action. That Telegraph Hill address is in a 9-story high rise, originally designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, for his rheumatoid arthritis doctor, Dr. Collin H. Dong.
Structured chronologically, Lock, Stock, and Barrel presents an overview of Wilson¹s numerous writings, with chapters on the "In the Blood" film project (in which one of the participants died in a tragic fire while on the three-week safari in Tanzania), how he single-handedly documented and unraveled the much of the tangled and complex history of America¹s arms engravers, the impact on the arms field of the superb design and quality of his books, his inspiration and generosity to innumerable budding authors and researchers, his contributions to the worlds of hunting, shooting and research and writing on antique and modern arms and his vital role in facilitating the emigration from Soviet Russia of Jewish dissident Dr. Leonid Tarassuk (then Curator of Arms and Armor, The State Hermitage Museum), and his wife Nina, their children Ilya and Irena, and their grandmother.
Published to commemorate the exhibition at Carleton College's Gould Memorial Library (spring, 2003 - "40 Years in Art and Antiques"), a feature of Lock, Stock & Barrel is a collection of forewords, by college President Robert Oden, Librarian Samuel Demas, MIT Professor Merritt Roe Smith, art dealer Alec Wildenstein, editors Robert Loomis and Michael Korda, author/adventurer/designer Robert M. Lee, antiquarian Norm Flayderman, photographer/conservationist Peter Beard, and several others - each knowing Wilson from some aspect of his and their lives. A charming letter from Katharine Hepburn (after her visit to Wilson's Hadlyme residence), photographs with New Yorker cartoonist Charles Addams (when presenting him with a revolver), a unique inscribed Christmas card of Peter Beard (partially swallowed by a huge Nile Crocodile) and over 70 complex collages of photos and memorabilia all add color, dimension and spice to this intriguing, indeed unique, volume.
As a part of its journey into time, Lock, Stock & Barrel delineates any number of reasons why millions of Americans are so passionate about their guns and about the time-honored sport of hunting.
Fasten your seat belt and take a unique ride through a life¹s trajectory driven by a passion for arms and armor.
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Larry Wilson's books and articles, such as those we are proud to display in the Carleton College library, move from ambition to reality, they happen only because of the kind of "full immersion" research and writing which Larry chronicles so memorably in this volume.
Robert A. Oden, Jr., President, Carleton College
From a lifetime of collaboration with fine book binders (including his late father-in-law Arno Werner and son Peter), editors, publishers, photographers, printers, designers, marketers, and publicists Larry has developed a refined instinct for quality and markets in the book business. His volumes are marked by careful attention to aesthetics and design, extensive research, and a joy in writing that makes a book shine when you read it.
Samuel Demas, Carleton College Librarian and Senior Lecturer
No one on earth has contributed more to the study, research and history of American arms from the time of the flintlock to the beginnings of the cartridge era.
Robert M. Lee, Founder and President Emeritus, Hunting World, Inc.
[Larry Wilson is] the expert witness in the field.William E. Simon, Sr., former Secretary of the Treasury
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 Torme, author, entertainer, musician
His energy and application are truly amazing. These qualities have enabled him to travel the world researching and writing one book after another. Each one is very different, yet recognisably in the Wilson mould. Each one is impeccably researched, yet accessible and interesting to a non-specialist as well as to a student. And each one is produced to exceptionally high standards, yet is so reasonably priced that it sells "like hot cakes" as we British say.
Guy M. Wilson, Master of the Armouries, H.M. Tower of London (ret.), President, International Association of Museums of Arms and Military History
Larry Wilson [is] a man of extraordinary energy, precision, taste and knowledge [and] that rarest combination of qualities: undogmatic, sociable, elegant, good company and devoted to the highest standards of excellence.. . . [He 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
Large format, 12- x 12-inches, hardcover
Over 225 pages, more than 130 plates - most in color In excess of 3,500 images, including several important and rare American and European firearms.
Complete bibliography, compiled by Charles F. Priore, Jr., Science Librarian, Carleton and St. Olaf Colleges
Appendices
Index
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Publication date: Fall 2010Now taking advance orders:
Numbered and signed edition of 1,000 - postpaid pre-publication price @$65 (will be @$85+$5 pstge/hndlg=$90 after 31 December 2008).
Standard edition: postpaid pre-publication price, @$60 (will be $65+$5 (pstge/hndlg)=$70 after 31 December 2006).
Leather bound, limited, signed and numbered edition of 100: postpaid pre-publication price @$225 (will be @$250 after 31 December 2006).