Townsend Whelen Books?

[King Cobb]

I think I am about finished collecting my rutledge and buckingham collection and thinking of trying out some of whelens writings. Anyone have a suggestion on where to start?

[Bill Murphy]

"Mister Rifleman" is a large format 1961 book, finished after TW's death by Bradford Angier. It pictures and describes many of TW's rifles. Very interesting. "The Hunting Rifle", 1940 Stackpole, is another great one. There were a couple of books on sights and scopes, of interest mostly to early rifle collectors, that are interesting to me, but have lost themselves in the library. I thought they were next to "The Life of Donald Duck", 1939 and "Uncle Wiggily's Happy Days", but the Whelen books seem to have been moved by some unnamed person. In my collection is Townsend Whelen's A.P. Curtis Parker try gun that went from the DuPont shooting collection, through the Parker-Whelen gun store in Washington, D.C., to a Parker-Whelen stockmaker whose name I don't recall, to Ben Toxvard at Shenandoah Gun Shop in Berryville, Virginia, and finally, after much negotiation, to me.

[King Cobb]

Thanks for the assistance as always Mr. Murphy! I had asked on a couple of rifle forums I am on and hadn't gotten much response about specific titles. Much appreciated!

There is a best of TW book out there, but I tend to enjoy the originals more than the compilations.

[Bill Murphy]

At a long past PGCA meeting show in Pittsburgh, a vendor, member of the Historical Rifle Association or some such organization, was displaying some books, some of which were Whelen's personal copies of his and other titles. Don't ask me if I took any of them home. I don't remember, but I do have a Whelen book with Al Barr's name in it, Al being a working companion of Whelen's at NRA.

[Jacob Duke]

I’m a little late to the party responding, but Wilderness Hunting and Wildcraft is a great book. On Your Own in the Wilderness (co-written with Angier) is also good.