Clients of London gunmaker, John Rigby & Co., can now ensure that their Big Game rifles benefit from the best protection when in transit from one intrepid adventure to the next. All those purchasing a rifle from Rigby’s acclaimed Big Game range will have the option to order a hand-built canvas covered case to house their new firearm.
Each case is made in England around a lightweight wooden frame and is finished with a traditional hunting green canvas, with sturdy tan-colored leather corners and straps, which makes the case unsuitable for airlines, but perfect for traveling by all other transport methods. Being “loose block” fitted, each case is specifically tailored to fit an individual firearm and can also house a telescopic sight and cleaning kit. Initials can also be added for an even more personal touch.
Ernest Hemingway’s friend A.E. Hotchner once described a “yellowed four-by-five picture of Ernest,” shown him by Hemingway, “aged five or six, holding a small rifle. Written on the back in his mother’s hand was the notation, ‘Ernest was taught to shoot by Pa when 2½ and when 4 could handle a pistol.’”
Firearms and shooting infused Hemingway’s existence and thus his writing. He was a member of his high-school gun club and went to war when he was eighteen. He hunted elk, deer, and bear in the American west and went on two extended African safaris, which figured hugely in his writing and changed his life. To the day of his death, Hemingway remained an avid hunter, first-class wingshot, and capable rifleman.
Following years of research from Sun Valley to Key West and from Nairobi, Kenya to Hemingway’s home in Cuba, this volume significantly expands what we know about Hemingway’s shotguns, rifles, and pistols—the tools of the trade that proved themselves in his hunting, target shooting, and in his writing. Weapons are some of our most culturally and emotionally potent artifacts. The choice of gun can be as personal as the car one drives or the person one marries; another expression of status, education, experience, skill, and personal style. Including short excerpts from Hemingway’s works, these stories of his guns and rifles tell us much about him as a lifelong expert hunter and shooter and as a man. Buy Now
