500 printed and signed by the Donald Dallas
Charles Gordon was born in 1853, but shortly after his birth his mother died and since his father was a serving army officer, he was adopted by his aunt and uncle who lived at Halmyre House near Peebles in the Scottish Borders. By the time he was 14, his uncle and aunt had both died and although he inherited the large Halmyre estate along with a considerable income, he was left alone to fend for himself. He was of unsound mind throughout his life, one aspect of this being a desire to collect on a massive scale. He bought over 300 guns, rifles and pistols of the very best quality, all in sumptuous cases, about half being muzzle-loaders, a system that was completely obsolete at the time of purchase. Even his breech-loaders were quirky and out of date and he never fired the majority of his collection.
Charles Gordon, Magnificent Madness
I saw the book cover and thought it was about a maker I never heard of but it was about a collector.