Basil, my cuz! You should have checked with me on that book. I met E.A. Brink at a gun show in Roanoke back in the 20th century.
He sold all of his remaining copies of that book to a friend of mine who deals in gun books (Tommy Hypes). In that deal, I negotiated
to get Mr. Brink's 'author's proof' copy. It is still in my library and I only own one of those automatics. Think trade!

 

The space for the serial number is blank in my copy also. The title page in my book is signed" Ed Brink 4-7-91". That was 7 years after the book was printed in 1984, so it must have taken a few years to completely sell out the 1000 copies.

 

ed died several years ago. I knew him and am proud to say that he was a personal friend of mine.
regarding your serial # question, ed sold most of the books ftf from his tables that he used to set up at gun shows back when he was an ffl. this was before internet sales and although ed was in business he wasn't a marketer and I doubt that he sold many of the books through mail order or by other means, they were mainly ftf sales. every copy of that book that I ever saw always had it's number stamped in the space you speak of. I can't ask ed to verify it but I would guess that the reason yours isn't stamped is because it was one of the later ones that probably never reached the point of being sold by ed so he never got around to hand stamping a number in it.
anyway I hope you enjoy your book.

 

Here are pictures of mine.

 

I bought my copy from him in 2004 and it is #996.

 

Thanks, Guys. I suspected mine is not THE #1, but the wording under the serial number space ("Limited 1 of 1000 Edition") is misleading. If all books have this wording, then it is definitely misleading. An "Edition" to me is a same-time printing of multiple individual books, IMHO. Such as "This book is a First Edition", meaning the first time it was printed, NOT the first in a number of books printed at the same time. Whatever, I'm happy to get 1 of 1,000 printed copies. A Forum member told me a while back that he got his copy at the annual Colt Collectors Association for $100 - but that he was relatively un-impressed by its contents. I don't care - I just wanted a copy for my Woodsman library. I've got multiple copies of The Good Major's "Woodsman Pocket Guide" which is an excellent reference source, and Mr. Hacker's paperback Woodsman handbook, which is pretty limited in information.

Are there any other Woodsman books I should be looking for??? I buy old sales literature/advertisements, and any gun magazine featuring Colt Woodsmans in articles mentioned or pictured on their cover. I know more Woodsman gun magazine articles are yet to be mine, just want a copy of any hardbound "coffee table" type books.

 

Are there any other Woodsman books I should be looking for??? I buy old sales literature/advertisements, and any gun magazine featuring Colt Woodsmans in articles mentioned or pictured on their cover. I know more Woodsman gun magazine articles are yet to be mine, just want a copy of any hardbound "coffee table" type books.

Yes. If you have any interest in the pre-1946 USGI Match Target Woodsman pistols then you should find a copy of the long out of print "US Handguns of WWII" by Charlie Pate.

Regards,
Charlie Flick
CCA Life Member

 

Mr. St. Clair, you misinterpret the meaning of "1 of 1000." The "1" does not mean that your copy is the first copy printed. All the phrase means is that there were 1000 "First Edition" copies printed, and the book in hand is one of those 1000 copies. Where your book falls in the sequence from 1 to 1000 cannot be determined from your title page. From the explanation given above, the author apparently sold unnumbered copies at gun shows for years. My personal copy is Serial Number 0041, and came into my hands May 29, 1984. I suppose I saw it advertised in "Shotgun News" or reviewed somewhere, and purchased it by following some kind of link to the author.

I have always been extremely disappointed in the book. The photographs are poor and there really is not much information in it. Mr. Rayburn's Pocket Guide has more useful information, although no color pictures of course. The "Book of Colt Fire Arms" has more useful information in it.

 

Judge, It was Kolchaka127 who asked about the book with no number. My copy is pictured.

 

Your Honor,

I suspected as such but just wanted a copy to have a copy. I collect anything "Woodsmanish", including old shooting medals if they depict a Woodsman, a Franklin Mint Woodsman knife, etc., likely overpaying for such. It's an OCD thing. Thanks for the information.

 

Mine's signed and dated 7-24-00, but un-numbered.

I found it disjointed and poorly done, but it was cheap enough to pick up, so I did.

There had been great potential and so little delivery on the expectations.

 

In the early 1980s Ed Brink, John Guest, Dave Sell, and I were probably the most active Woodsman collectors in the country. We all became aware of each other, and eventually met. I talked to Ed on the telephone many times, and knew that he was working on a book. I told him I was very glad that he was, because it needed to be done and I didn't have time. I was on Air Force active duty at the time, and out of the country more than half the time. We finally met face to face at my first CCA show in Kansas City in the early '80s. We hit it off immediately and became good friends.

I gave Ed copies of all my Woodsman notes and observations, but I had nothing to do with the book other than moral support and any information that I could provide. I visited with him in Ohio and he visited me here in WA. It took a couple years for him to finish the manuscript and photos, and when it came back from the publisher he was very disappointed in the product his publisher built from his manuscript.

He sent me a complimentary copy, Serial number 22. I never told Ed, and I wouldn't say it now if he was still alive, but like Judgecolt I was very disappointed. The book was poorly organized and often misleading in its terminology and classifications. There were not many errors of commission, but unfortunately there were many, many, errors of omission.

He and I had often discussed the fact that the usual references of the day, Gun Trader's Guide and others, used a First Issue, Second Issue, and Third Issue categorization, but hopelessly confused them, calling first "Issue" second, second "Issue" first, and other egregious errors. The last time I checked a few years ago they were still carrying the same errors forward year after year.

Ed said there was so much confusion already ingrained that he was going to clear it up once and for all by dispensing with the "Issue" terminology altogether, and I heartily agreed. Unfortunately he then went on to compound the error (in my opinion) by calling his examples 1st series, 1st issue; 1st series, 2nd issue; 1st series, 3rd issue; 2nd series, 1st issue; and on and on in a similar way. Unfortunately the real world does not fit into such a neat outline of exactly nine types, although that was clearly the implication. In addition, the difference (or differences) from one classification to the next was not explicit, and was often not apparent from the photographs.

The original numbered books did not sell well. In 1984 $100 was a very high price for a 100 page book. A few years later he sold quite a few on Ebay and realized fairly good prices for them.

 

I forget where I got mine (or what I paid), but it is signed, but not dated and is not numbered. I remember seeing Ed at Ohio Gun Collector's Association and other gun shows in the Ohio area back in the 1980's and 1990's. At the time, I was not interested in Woodsman pistols, so I didn't buy a copy then but picked it up somewhere later. If I remember correctly, I bought a gun from Ed at one of the shows. I think it was a Smith & Wesson, but don't remember the model.

- - -Buckspen

 

Got mine in 97 at the Ix center in Cleveland used to be a lot of woodsman collectors pass through the show,bought a lot of good stuff from bill

 

Basil, Let me know if you find two copies of the Pate book. Someone advised that I should own that book, also.

 

There are several copies of Pate's book offered by various sellers on Amazon from $248 and up. Seems expensive, but I haven't any experience with this particular book so I don't know what it ought to sell for.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0917218752/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used

- - Buckspen

 

Buck,

I'm sure you saw the new book for like $650. Must be a great reference book but too pricey for me.

 

Basil:

In further response to your inquiry on books about the Woodsman, I find that I neglected to mention two others by E. Scott Meadows. They are US Military Automatic Pistols Vol. II 1920-45 and Vol. III 1946 to 2012. Volume II has about 13 pages devoted to the USGI Woodsman pistols. Volume III has about 12 pages on subjects like the Arctic Woodsman pistols. Both are excellent works.

I checked my copy of Charlie Pate's book and can report that it has about 8 pages devoted to the USGI Woodsman guns, with other references and photos of the US Woodsman pistols scattered through the book.

I hope this additional information is helpful to you in your search for published Woodsman information.

Regards,
Charlie Flick

 

Thanks Charlie. Muchas Gracias. I would gather both these works are detailed reference books and not cheap. I would like to read them (the Woodsman sections) but doubt I'll be inclined to purchase them since there are many other Woodsmans I have yet to purchase. I have 6 different ones now, but want (ideally) one of each model and barrel length and the Targetsman/Challenger/Huntsman models. And then it's a matter of 5 mags per pistol & accessories like wooden cases, holsters, etc. Along way to go before I'll likely get to the reference books. I doubt they are in any public library other than Congress'. Been there long ago, and might as well purchase the books rather than airfare, motels, etc.

Many thanks.

 

The Bibliography at the end of my Colt Woodsman Pocket Guide, both the printed and online version, lists a number of books and magazine articles that include Woodsman information. Some of the magazine articles are excellent, especially those that I wrote.

Colt Woodsman Bibliography
Colt Woodsman Bibliography

 

Does anyone have an extra copy of Colt Rimfire Automatic pistols by Brink that they would be willing to part with? Please let me know. Thanks, Bert Garber, bsgbooks@bellsouth.net or (985)893-9058.