American Colonial Ranger 1724-64

[garyjd]

I lucked out and managed to pick this up at the local Borders bookstore. It is written and illustrated by historical artist/historian Gary Zaboly. The plates are also supplemented by several of Zaboly's pen and ink studies/scenes. If you're interested in the subject or period covered this is a must have for the personal library.~Gary

 

[John Long]

The cover alone makes my fingers twitch. I'll be getting that one. Thanks for the quick review Gary. I'm considering a Ranger officer or rifleman, so this is going to be perfect.

 

[garyjd]

Though it is not listed in their future release section, this title is shown as one in their 18th century section. This is another must have when it comes out.~Gary

 

[John Long]

Warrior Series too. That's my favorite Osprey series. The plates included in those are more detail oriented and specific. I find the Elite and Men at Arms a little broad sometimes.

 

[Shane]

Gary,

Thanks. I've been wanting to know what you guys thought of this book. I think I saw somewhere that there will be one on Rangers in the Southern Colonies as well.

Shane

 

[garyjd]

Shane, I hope Zaboly does this one as well to keep the look of the books consistent. There are a few plates showing individual equipment as well as some pen and ink drawings of equipment. I've been a fan of Zaboly's art/illustration for years, hopefully this book will give his work some exposure and we can expect to see more of it in the future.~Gary

 

[PeteC]

Those look like great books. I can see that I still have a lot to explore in that era. How's the new Osprey book on the Continental Line? I know it just came out but I haven't seen it yet.

 

[Shane]

Gary,

Do you think this is the book to buy if you're only buying one book on Rangers?

 

[garyjd]

Shane, there are few books that cover a subject well enough to do a complete figure from. In addition to this book check out the following book

The annotated and illustrated journals of Major Robert Rogers

Annotated by Tim Todish
Illustrated by Gary Zaboly

Published by Purple Mountain Press http://www.catskill.net/purple/default.htm

This is a great book that has 22 pen and ink illustrations accompanied by great text by Gary. A lot of these show up in the Osprey book but reduced in size and in a lot of cases cropped. Gary also has a 30 page study just on the uniforms of Rogers Rangers. In my opinion the drawings and the uniform study (best I've ever seen) is worth the price of $29.00

Pete, I have not seen the Continental book yet. I'm very curious as to what the plates look like though.~Gary

 

[Shane]

Gary,

Thanks for the infomation. I've been thinking about trying a Ranger bust for quite awhile. Maybe one of these books will give me the added incentive.

Pete,

I looked at the Continental book last night. Not really my area of knowledge, but it seemed pretty good to me. Although, most all the color plates reflect the sorry state of supply in the Army. Seemed a bit overdone, but maybe not. There weren't as many equipment and detail illustrations as I hoped. I would have liked more uniform variation, but maybe there really wasn't any more. I'll probably get this one, eventually.


Shane

 

[garyjd]

Shane, I'm not expecting much from the Continental soldier book. It's a shame that an historical artist/illustrator from the States was not chosen for the project. My choice would have been Troiani, it would have been awesome. Unfortunately he probably would have been far outside of what they normally pay someone to illustrate the plates. If the illustator doing the plates does not specialize in the period being done you can almost expeect there to not be much special in the look of the scenes being done. I would not mind doing such a project except I'm just to darn slow in getting something complete. I'd be excited to see you do a ranger bust or two. The ranger book has me thinking about a project or two but current projects and committing myself to a few future projects will put that on hold.~Gary