books on Parkers -- ratings?
 

after our recent enlightened discussion on e books

I thought this might be both interesting to both new and old forum members

There have been several books done on the Parker Shotgun, from Johnson's little tome to the two volume Parker Story set, as well as Muderlak's works and more. I have several, and of course I still need some others, and there will be many new members wont have any yet.

So how would the readers here rank the various titles? Parker titles only, there are shelves full ( mine at least) of generic double shotgun interest books.

based on value of the information available in them what would your ranking be -- could be as a must have vs nice to have or best reading or too much outdated research information.

Rick,

I think everyone would agree the two Volume Parker Story is heads and shoulders above all other books on the Parker. Of course, it is also a lot more expensive, but anyone who is truly interested in Parkers should buy this set. It is truly wonderful.

Richard

I would agree, it is no contest.

I agree with Rick, "the two Volume Parker Story is heads and shoulders above all other books" on Parker Bros. shotguns. The Larry Baer and Ed Muderlak book order are interchangeable and lastly the Peter Johnson book. BUT, the order is irrelevant because I recommend owning and reading all of them if you have an interest in Parker Bros.

For those who want a list of these books and a short description of each, this can be found in our FAQ answer page at http://parkerguns.org/pages/faq/learn.htm

i to agree that the parker story is the best...they are costly but if you buy allk the needed info thats in them from other books it will cost you more than the parker storey..so there really not a bad buy after all...love those beautiful full color pictures of those high grades.... charlie

I agree Robin on the Parker Story, but I would take Muderlak's book over Baer's book for one reason, the photography in Ed's book is so much better then Baer's book.

The Parker Story, Muderlak, Baer 1-2, Johnson. Hats off to Johnson it is a classic!, yea full of mistakes but at the time of printing it sufficed,

I fully agree with the order,

The Parker Story books live on the bench, they are dog eared, well greased and oil soaked. The other three live on the bookshelf. Hardly a day goes by that they are not used for comparisons and data.

Brad

I agree with the Parker Story is first. This 2 volume set is a masterpiece and when I really think about the amount of information that has been put into this great set I am still amazed.After the Parker Story I would recommend "Shooting Flying and the American Experience" by Ed Muderlak this is a great followup to TPS and in a way continues the whole experience. After that the rest of Ed's book,Baer and Mr. Johnson. All great in their own right.

When I was high school age, my neighbor, a Doc who impressed me in all ways, had a couple of Parkers and informed me that Parkers were the best. I thought my Dad's model 11 was the best gun around (I had a Topper 20 at the time, which I still have). About 50 years ago, I found an 1884 12ga 0 grade lifter for $20, which I still have. My brother and I used it quite a bit, loading our own BP shells (twist was unsafe at any speed then). About 12 years ago I came across EDM's "Old Reliable"; he mentioned the PGCA and I joined. It's been down hill ever since. I acquired TPS a year later. So, for books, I would say that Ed's was most important for me and TPS is the most comprehensively infomative. However, the PGCA members I have met and examined their guns and talked with; and, read their comments and seen their photos on this site, probably, are more signifiant to me than the books.

The Parker Story is truly the best researched and most well written book dedicated exclusively to the Parker gun and all things Parker. By itself, it is all one really needs but to get the full perspective of the Parker gun from the other authors it best to have at least read the other books, if not to own them.

Fred,

That was quite an investment in that O grade lifter for $20! You could easily double your money today:)

As far as Parker information goes, the Parker Pages is also fabulous. When I first joined PGCA in 1995 it was just a few Xerox pages stapled together. I then wandered away into the wilds of Siberia and Antarctica searching for extremophiles and meteorites and lost contact with PGCA. When I re-joined a couple of months ago, I was astonished to see what a beautiful publication it had evolved into.

Thanks are truly due to Austin Hogan, Dean Romig, Larry Frey, and the Associate and Contributing Editors and authors who have put so much work into this fine publication that does justice to these magnificent shotguns.

Richard

The one thing that Peter Johnson had going for him, that the others did not, was the chance to interview living Parker employees and get their stories. I believe that everything that came after made some use of his writing. In any event THE PARKER STORY is by far the best and most accurate and a bargain for the serious Parker Collector. JMHO

George

We like to talk about the "Best Buys" in our collecting. Some of us talk about our higher grade Parkers that were bought for peanuts back in the 70's, some of us talk about buying Parker Repros during the closeout and others talk about buying TPS at the pre-publication price. Relatively speaking, the current $195 price for blemished sets (that you will scratch your head trying to figure out what makes them blems) certainly qualifies as a "Best Buy" in my book.

I need to buy me one of those "blems" -- even though I have bee extremely careful with this beautiful set, by original TPS has begun to show signs of wear, because I keep opening it to read and drool over the pictures.

I own Johnson's, Baer's, Ed's Old Reliable and the Parker Story. I can say that of them all, I care for Baer's the least. A bit too quick of a read for me compared to Ed's Old Reliable. I think that was a well written book and enjoyable to read. Obviously Baer's book was limited to the information that was available at the time. Johnson's is a classic since it is the first book on the subject and in most ways kind of got the collector interest going.
And Hand Down TPS is the best of course by way of technical info, research and photograpy.

Brian, you are missing the best buy in Parker books other than TPS. Ed Muderlak's Shooting Flying is the most entertaining of any of them and is available on ebay for next to nothing. We should all own and read that book. Ed's Old Reliable is mostly a compilation of articles we have already read. Shooting Flying is all new material, well researched and full of fun photos.

Yeah, I need to pick that one up.

I agree with Bill on EDM's Shooting Flying.

I agree. I thought I said that several posts ago.....:rotf:

You did, Dave. I noticed it was missing from Brian's list and wanted to clue him in to the ridiculous low price that book was selling for. Thanks.