SIGNED "CARVINGS FROM THE VELDT" BOER WAR MAUSER ENFIELD RIFLE REFERENCE BOOK

Description

"The Boers knocked us silly at a mile"
-Rudyard Kipling
The discovery of gold and diamonds in the South African hinterland brought Imperial Britain into direct conflict with the two Boer republics, the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. After early setbacks, the British regrouped and marched their army straight through the Boer capitals of Bloemfontein and Pretoria, ending organized Boer resistance. After "marching to Pretoria", the British General Lord Roberts went home to London thinking the war was over, but Boer commanders Koos De la Rey and Jan Smuts took to the veldt, harassing the British with hit and run raids until more favorable peace terms were offered, and a treaty was signed in May 1902. The Boers had traditionally been a citizen army, requiring every able bodied man between 16 and 60 to keep a rifle and horse ready in case of military emergency. By the late 1890s, it was apparent that war with Britain was coming, and the Boer republics contacted Mauser in Germany and Steyr in Austria to acquire thousands of modern rifles. These were made available for purchase to Boer fighting men, allowing for a more standard set of arms and ammunition among the Afrikaners. The Boer armies purchased 45,000 Mauser M1895 smokeless powder rifles and carbines, and 7,500 Steyr Guedes falling block rifles. Many Boers, proud of their new arms and being rugged individualists, carved their rifle stocks with their name, birthday, sweetheart, unit, national heroes, battles in which they fought, or the national crest of their homeland. Those carved Boer rifles have become pieces of military folk art, and relics of a bygone era, when bearded Boer "burghers" with bulging bandoliers and Mauser rifles fought "Mr. Kipling's Army" nearly to a draw. Such has been the interest in those firearms that Dave C. George wrote an authoritative reference book on the subject in 2004, reprinted in a ninth edition in February 2019. This SIGNED "CARVINGS FROM THE VELDT" BOER WAR MAUSER ENFIELD RIFLE REFERENCE BOOK is in near mint, unread condition, with only some light scattered storage wear evident (most pictured). Otherwise, the book is in near mint shape, with no other damage. Most interestingly, it's signed by the author on the title page, boasts elegantly illustrated softcovers, and sports 137 pages full of descriptive text, period pictures, and color photographs of Boer carved M1895 Mauser rifles and carbines by Ludwig Loewe & Co. and DWM of Berlin, Sporting "Plezier" Mausers by DWM, Spanish contract M1893 rifles by Mauser of Oberndorf, M1885 Guedes rifles by Steyr, Australian, British, and New Zealand unit and campaign carved Magazine Lee-Enfield rifles and all kinds of carbines, Commonwealth captured Boer Mausers decorated as war trophies, tons of history on the "men behind the rifles", great information on the Anglo-Boer War itself, and a plethora of other invaluable information. A beautiful example of a SIGNED "CARVINGS FROM THE VELDT" BOER WAR MAUSER ENFIELD RIFLE REFERENCE BOOK. Now celebrating over 20 years on eBay. Bid with confidence and please view our other great military, aviation, and sporting classics, including a German WW2 MWC LUFTWAFFE PILOT B-UHR AUTOMATIC WRIST WATCH in MINT, unworn, new in the box condition, sporting a crisp 60 minute/12 hour (outer/inner) white numbers black dial, and featuring the classic big "onion" crown and sweeping seconds hand with hacking function.
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