Are these gun books rare? "Roper", Keith", "Winans", Welen"...

[Wyatt Burp]

Are these gun books rare? "Roper", Keith", "Winans", Welen"...

Someone an hour from me has 37 books for sale for $275 or ten bucks each. I hope the pics are readable. I'm kind of interested in S&W Handguns" by McHenry/Roper, "Pistol & Revolver Shooting" by Roper, "The Modern Pistol" by Walter Winans, and the Welen and Keith books. While I have a ton of books, I don't have these. What's your opinions on them?

 

[Onomea]

Looks like Easton Press publications. Very high quality materials. Acid free paper, leather bindings, some sort of fabric on the inside of the covers and first page. Ribbons to keep your place.

Not rare. They are reproductions of earlier books, likely published in the 1980s. Back then they cost about $50 each. Ten bucks is a good price for books in which you have interest.

 

[thebolt]

A number of great books there but I believe these are all reproductions of the original books. Great reading but no collectable value.

 

[johngross]

The original editions are probably rare on some of them, but these are reprints offered [approximately] 30 or so years ago. I remember seeing them advertised as a type of "Book of the Month Club."

Buy them if you like them, but don't buy them because you think they might be rare collectibles.

 

[wheelgun28]

If nothing else they will look nice on a bookshelf.

 

[Cooter Brown]

Looks like Eastern Press publications. Very high quality materials. Acid free paper, leather bindings, some sort of fabric on the inside of the covers and first page. Ribbons to keep your place.

Not rare. They are reproductions of earlier books, likely published in the 1980s. Back then they cost about $50 each. Ten bucks is a good price for books in which you have interest.

Onomea--pretty sure those are "Easton Press". They are beautiful quality books. I have a few, but no sporting or shooting titles.

I have too many books to take care of and keep dusted at this point, but I'd be all over those!

 

[moosedog]

If you can "cherry pick" those that you mentioned for $10 a piece that would be the way to go. They are good reading and reference books.
Good luck.

 

[lihpster]

I have a copy of W.W. Greener's The Gun and it's Development that looks very similar. It was published by Odysseus Editions for the NRA's firearms classics library. Well made and beautiful book. I think I paid $35-$50 for it at a used book store. $10 a piece for selected volumes sounds like a good price.

 

[Onomea]

Onomea--pretty sure those are "Easton Press". They are beautiful quality books. I have a few, but no sporting or shooting titles...

Right you are, Cooter. Easton. I corrected above. Thanks!

When I emerged from ten years in graduate school in the mid-'80s, and got a decent paying job, I joined their classic book of the month club, receiving a nicely bound and printed classic book every month. I stayed with them for about a dozen years, and have a fairly large bookcase in my living room in Japan full of these. Also bought some favorites, like the Tolkien books, CS Lewis's Narnia series, Sherlock Holmes, etc.

For those among you who like the Peterson's guides to birds, fish, reptiles, etc, Easton's published these as well. They are available on the used book market for very reasonable prices.

 

[6518John]

If nothing else they will look nice on a bookshelf.

I would already be cleaning a spot for them on the self with feline assistance. (They love the bookshelf).

 

[Walter Rego]

As others have mentioned, they are high quality reprints of firearms and shooting classics.
Absolutely worth $10 each although if you can cherry pick the ones that you are most interested in that would be preferable. But I assume the seller wants the whole lot sold.

I'll bet you will get a heck of a lot more enjoyment out of that library for $275 than you would for the equivalent amount of money in Netflix, Showtime or other boob tube subscriptions for several months.

You can also impress any of your gun savvy friends by having a set like that on display.

 

[gregintenn]

Well worth the price and the drive, but probably not a retirement plan.

 

[Rustyt1953]

I would already be cleaning a spot for them on the self with feline assistance. (They love the bookshelf).

As does Callie.

 

[ddixie884]

I'd probably buy them but not with grocery money.............

 

[opoefc]

An old time dealer collector , Jim Servin, gave me some advice as a young man 70 yrs ago : " Ed, everytime you buy a gun, buy a book. You will sell or trade the gun, however what you learn reading the book will stay with you all you life." That's the smartest advice I ever got ! Ed.