We are an authorized, direct-from-the-publisher retailer of NEW books. Our titles are ON HAND and available for immediate shipping. Table of Contents The American West was won with a multitude of firearms, from single-shot pistols and Colt revolvers to Plains rifles and Winchester repeaters. Here, the variety of military and civilian gunleather that housed this romantic array of weaponry is illustrated, explained and celebrated in PACKING IRON: GUNLEATHER OF THE FRONTIER WEST. The first work to competently and accurately describe the holsters, gunbelts, saddle scabbards and various other equipment which made carrying and wearing firearms practical, PACKING IRON adds substantially to the ever-increasing lore of the West and the study of these specialized artifacts. Although always recognized as collectible objects (and in recent years having greatly appreciated in interest, desirability and value), the history and development of western gunleather, both military and civilian, has remained among the little-examined fields of nineteenth century frontier material culture. Organized by style and date, with more than 300 exceptional color photographs, and 100 important historical images PACKING IRON is a handsomely designed 216 page portrait of this important facet of our frontier heritage, as seen through the eyes of Richard Rattenbury, Curator of History at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City. The extensive, entertaining, fact-filled text provides a fascinating history of these artifacts and recognizes the many leather artisans who created these cultural heirlooms. The reader is introduced not only to the military products fabricated at historic government arsenals, but also to the romantic spectrum of custom gunleather made by western saddlers. Here, one encounters the work of famed frontier craftsmen like Collins, Frazier, Furstnow, Gallatin, Gallup, Heiser, Main & Winchester, Meanea and Myres. Packing Iron is a book no student or collector of Americana should be without.
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