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A few weeks back I mentioned I had "Mis-placed" my Copy of Burrard's The Modern Shotgun. Back in 2018 when I started my Cancer treatment we had to do some rearranging in the house as a hospital bed was brought in for me.

When I got back on my feet I looked for it & couldn't find it. I asked my Wife if she had any idea where she had put it & the answer was No matter how treasured a one it was.
I had arrived at the conclusion that somehow it got mixed up with the trash & had gone to the dump.

Yesterday I Found It. It is the American edition with a 1961 Copywrite date but all the info is just as written by Burrard earlier including the Appendices & etc.

It had been placed in a storage bin which I had not thought about looking in. In fact, was looking for something else when I found it.

I would not trade the 3-volume set for all the other shotgun books ever written, combined.

Miller....books are treasures the younger generation doesn't appreciate. I have 100 volumes of 15th-19th century travelogues and histories of Central Asia...Tehran, Samarkand, Bukhara, Herat, Kabul, the Indus, Sistan; I've been told to get rid of them...the internet has it all. Sorry...Not sorry.... there's still something about holding paper. Are we dinosaurs?

And congrats for getting up from that attack and that bed! I beat agent orange cancer diagnosed 17 years ago. It can be done.

2-piper, I once had that same American Burrard edition. I borrowed it from a friend read it copied parts of it and returned it. Should of kept it, he's dead now anyway.

Now If I could just find that frame of my best of the best arrowheads I lost in a move back in 1978 I'd be very happy...Geo

Speaking of books, I got my hands on General Journee's "Tir des Fusils de Chasse" quite some time ago. (I think he's more or less the French Burrard.) I gave some thought to trying my hand at translating it, but it'd likely be a labor of love because I doubt there'd be all that much interest. And it's also extremely technical, making it a stretch for my knowledge of French.

Re your other interest, have you read "The Great Game" by Peter Hopkirk? A good summary of British and Russian imperialism in that part of the world.

Yes, I've read "The Great Game." But the original travel books are far more interesting. For pure travel literature adventure which really gets you into the heart of Iran and Afghanistan I'd recommend this book:

"Caravan Journeys and Wanderings in Persia, Afghanistan, Turkistan and Beloochistan." by J.P. Ferrier.

Ferrier was a young French artillery specialist working with the Persian army in 1843-44. He held the Persian army rank of "general." The Russians, working hard to spread influence in Iran, arranged to have him fired. He wandered around Baghdad for awhile then in 1845 decided to strike out across Asia to the Punjab where the Sikhs were employing French artillerists. He rode across N. Persia to Herat....over to Mazar-i-Sharif...tried to get over the Hindu Kush but there was a war going on...doubled back and crossed the Hindu Kush in the Hazara area, rode down to Kandahar where he was clapped into prison....finally released he returned to Sistan and tried to get down into Baluchistan and from there to the Punjab. His Pushtun companions, however, got into a fight with the Baluch and he had to return to Herat..... He told his story to a British captain years later where he was living out his life in one of the 5 French cities in India (les cinq estoiles) which the French held till Indian independence. Fascinating.

That sounds like a fascinating read, Argo. I'll have to see if I can locate a copy.

And after 50+ years of traveling, I may be home this fall. I might like to give translating General Journee's book a go. I think I'd go for the original version though. I think it's on line. Stay tuned.

Argo, a fried of mine was on the adjunct faculty down at Leavenworth, Command and General Staff College. The French liaison officer was looking for someone to translate an interesting French piece from the 18th century: "The Will of the Marshal de Belle Isle". Basically advice from a French nobleman to his son, who was inheriting the regiment he commanded. I enjoyed doing that one, and the French liaison officer liked it. He then asked if I'd be interested in translating a French field manual. I took a pass on that one.

Journee is interesting . . . but very long and very technical.