1882 Catalogue of Sporting Guns Rifles, Etc
A. T. Fitchew
£3.99
52pp stapled A5 booklet of a price list for various guns in 1882, illustrated throughout.
As a Ramsgate retailer manufacturing stock on the premises I feel some affinity for Mr Fitchew. I notice he managed to stay in business for about 35 years despite the obvious cash flow problems.
Producing as I am at the moment this catalogue of books and coming to this title I wonder how it will look in 120 years. I am sure that you will agree with me that a Victorian catalogue of a Ramsgate gunsmith is unlikely to be a bestseller. I can make no excuses for publishing it, or sympathise with you should you buy it, all I can say is I enjoyed it despite knowing very little about guns. As a boy in the 1960s I owned an air rifle, my local gunsmith treated me with a courteous, patient, helpfulness that would have surprised the “youth of today”.
I have made no concessions to the modern reader but have reprinted the hand written sheets about Mr. Fitchew and his business exactly as I found them in the catalogue. I hope you will find Walter Pike's, Flintlock Pike to his friends, handwriting worth deciphering.
This is another small piece of local history preserved I hope it would have met with approval of Mr. Fitchew.
Containing over 60 diagrams of sporting guns - Breech Loading, Hammerless, Hammer, Double Barrel, Muzzle Loading, Ladies, Air Guns and Pistols and Revolvers, with cash and credit prices. Accessories for the field - cartridges (central, pin and rim fire), gunpowder, waddings, targets, traps and balls. Extractors, cartridge bags, loading apparatus, powder and shot measures, cleaners, cases and covers, powder and shot flasks, sundries and adverts of the day from other companies in Birmingham, London etc.
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