Book learnin"
 

Well, for the last year or so I've poured over current discussions, and lots and lots of back threads. I've followed general discussions, hammer guns, Repros, restorations, and foto Fridays, ......and much more. I've sent in my membership dues and am looking forward to the Parker Pages....and the for sale section.


The screen saver on my home computer can't wash out the "moon glow" emblem of the PGCA

I've read, and laughed out loud at some of the conversations. And been saddened to see the loss of some of the Parker community members.

My wife has told me she's sure that I've taken on an "emotional online friend":eek:

I'm thinking that it's time to roll back a bit and start reading some of the books for a bit more of a solid foundation.
Is there a sensible place to start with the books? I've looked up "The Parker Story" and "The Old Reliable", "Shooting Flying", and "Parker: America's Finest Shotgun". There are more. It's going to be easy to drop a bundle on the home library!

Is there a sequence that makes any sense to start with? Are there any to pass on altogether, and which are the "can't do withouts"? Any better places to find them than Amazon, etc?

My vote would be to start with a copy of The Parker Story, both volumes and try to digest that. It is the most comprehensive book on the subject.

Fred: I'd start with Peter Johnson's "Parker, America's Finest Shotgun" & work up from there. The last & probably the best is , as Robin suggested, "The Parker Story" 2 Volumes with a lot of really good ones in between. Try to ge all of Ed Muderlak's books.

Best Regards, George

Only a very serious book collector would need to have Johnson or either of the Baer books. I'd suggest starting with Ed Muderlak's Parker the Old Reliable, and if that doesn't satisfy your needs move on to the magnum opus The Parker Story.

I agree with Researcher with the exception that if you want to start at the beginning, with the first published book devoted exclusively to Parker guns then moving up chronologically through the subsequent books published exclusively on Parker guns, you should start with Johnson's, then Baer's, then Muderlak's "Parker Gun, The Old Reliable", then "The Parker Story". By doing it this way you will gain an appreciation of the progress in Parker knowledge most of have experienced (with the exception the authors of these fine books, and "Researcher" Dave Noreen and other collectors who painstakingly did their own exhaustive research) and are continuing to experience. "The Parker Story" probably contains just about all of 'knowledge' that Johnson and Baer imparted through their books so you can skip those two if you wish. There has been quite an awful lot of accurate information uncovered since "The Parker Story" was published including Muderlak's work and the articles in the "Parker Pages" so, the "Parker" knowledge base is a living thing and we are all eager students like yourself.

Part of the parker learning experience would be starting with Johnson and ending with parker pages. Or go to the meat and potatoes and just skip to parker pages.

I have all the Parker books and with the exception of the Johnson book, got them near contemporaneous with their publication. The Johnson book is interesting but incomplete and has factual errors. I have the Baer books in signed deluxe edition with NY showroom portfolio. I have the Muderlak Old Reliable in signed cased deluxe edition. Both the Baer and Muderlak books are egocentric....what the Parker means to them and their views about the guns.

My recommendation is far and away to obtain The Parker Story in both volumes and to obtain the CD of the Parker Pages that we offer. Anybody who intends to be serious about Parkers should have TPS, most of the questions we have seen posted here are answered in TPS. The other Parker books are interesting historically, but I can't recall the last time, if ever, that I picked up any book other than TPS to find the answer to a question.

In order of publication, they are Johnson, Baer, Muderlak and the Price /Mullins TPS.

Since
the orig. poster mentioned cost I would agree with Bruce. Get the Parker Story first. Then go on to others. Regards, Ed

Fred : "Quail 1"--since you enjoy the forum and the PGCA members so well, may I suggest you join as a member of the organization . You will then receive quarterly the Parker Pages , an extremely well written and informative Journal concerning the members and the PARKER gun .It is $40.00 well invested !!! Allan Swanson

Muderlak's Parker Guns, Shooting Flying and the American Experience is as good a book, if not better than his Parker Guns, The Old Reliable. It is also very inexpensive. The Baer books are available in Volume 1 and Volume 11, or a combined edition. It is more fun to have the two volumes. The combined edition is inexpensive, the others less so. The Johnson book is usually very inexpensive. Double Gun Journal sells blem sets of The Parker Story $100 off regular price. No one I know of can find the blemishes. It is a sales tactic that saves you lots of money.