Good knife books

draggat

draggat

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I have to say, sometimes searching for very specific things on the forum is difficult for me, so I apologize if this has been asked a million times.

Can anyone point me in the direction of some good books that contain the history of pocket knives? I suppose the book doesn't have to be specifically about knives if it contains good stories about them.... sort of the who carried what and so on. We all know Lincoln carried a Congress, but what about other guys like Wyatt Earp, etc.... I also would like to read about the manufacturers... do any exist? Even just a book with pictures of different patterns, etc would be pretty neat.

I suppose out of print books can be found, but in print is better. Just a shot in the dark.
 
I think your best bet is to search Amazon for "knife collecting" or "pocket knife history" and see what comes up. Most knife books, at least the ones I own, show patterns and values with some history mixed in.
The "Bible" of knife books is "Levine's Guide to Knives & Their Values 4th edition". The 4th edition is high in price but you can still find the 2nd and 3rd editions at decent prices.
Some other books to consider are, Jim Sargent's "American Premium Guide to Knives & Razors" (many editions), Steve Pfeiffer's "Collecting Case Knives", Stewart & Ritchie's "Big Book of Pocket Knives" (many editions), Mike Robuck's "Gun Trader's Guide to Collectible Knives".
 
David L. Anthony's "Great Eastern Cutlery: An American Tradition", The History of the Northfield and Tidioute Brands. This book has a lot of knife history, particularly American knife history. Not so much about the owners of the knives, but the Companies and the Cutlers who made them. The last chapter or two tells about the start of the modern Great Eastern Cutlery Company.
 
It took me a while but I finally tracked down a copy of "Official Price Guide to Collector Knives" (15th ed) by C. Houston Price and Mark D Zalesky. It's a great resource and worth the hunt.
 
Two books I can think of off the top of my head:

1. The Swiss Army Knife Owner's Manual

2. The Case Cutlery Dynasty

The SAK book has a wealth of info on the subject, including the histories of both Victorinox and Wenger, unconventional uses, etc.

The Case book has a lot of history of the early cutlery manufacturers in the USA. A lot of the book revolves around the Case family politics, etc., and not much if anything regarding who carried what pattern, etc., and even the author himself, who (if I remember right) is related to the Case family, admits at the end of the book that he does not carry a knife himself. But it still has plenty of interesting information in it.

Jim
 
Levines Guide to Knives 4th edition. You will pay a pretty penny for it, but it is worth it. I got a dog eared copy from a member here in a trade/sale. It was his marked reading copy that he took to shows. It is still a wealth of information.

For something easier to obtain, I would go for the Blade Guide to Knives, it is still in print. Check with your library, used book stores, even knife shops, for knife books. I got a few knife annuals from my local knife shop as part of a trade, basically for free. They were taking up space in his shop. I've gotten a few books from the library, and have found a few at a used book shop about a two hour drive from me near the knife shop. Also, I have been gifted quite a few knife books by very generous members here.
 
silenthunterstudios said:
Levines Guide to Knives 4th edition. You will pay a pretty penny for it, but it is worth it. I got a dog eared copy from a member here in a trade/sale. It was his marked reading copy that he took to shows. It is still a wealth of information.

For something easier to obtain, I would go for the Blade Guide to Knives, it is still in print. Check with your library, used book stores, even knife shops, for knife books. I got a few knife annuals from my local knife shop as part of a trade, basically for free. They were taking up space in his shop. I've gotten a few books from the library, and have found a few at a used book shop about a two hour drive from me near the knife shop. Also, I have been gifted quite a few knife books by very generous members here.
Click to expand...

This.
 
silenthunterstudios said:
Levines Guide to Knives 4th edition. You will pay a pretty penny for it, but it is worth it. I got a dog eared copy from a member here in a trade/sale. It was his marked reading copy that he took to shows. It is still a wealth of information.

For something easier to obtain, I would go for the Blade Guide to Knives, it is still in print. Check with your library, used book stores, even knife shops, for knife books. I got a few knife annuals from my local knife shop as part of a trade, basically for free. They were taking up space in his shop. I've gotten a few books from the library, and have found a few at a used book shop about a two hour drive from me near the knife shop. Also, I have been gifted quite a few knife books by very generous members here.
Click to expand...

This.
 
Bernard Levine says the 4th edition is more accurate.
 
Thanks for all the replies. I think this will get me started. I'm especially curious to read the Great Eastern Cutlery book.
 
I only have BRL 2, but it's a good read :thumbup:

For Sheffield knife info, Geoffery Tweedale has recently produced a new edition of his Directory of Sheffield Cutlery Manufacturers. It's available 'Print On Demand', and a bargain in my opinion. I also highly reccomend Tweedale's biography of Stan Shaw, which is available on Amazon.
 
The Schatt and Morgan catalog reprints are wonderful. Very high quality with excellent illustrations of patterns offered by them in the early 20th century. These two reprints were sold when the Heritage series was introduced, I'm not sure how difficult they are to locate now. I got mine from Mike at Collectors Knives.
 
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Jim Sargent had a book out with a lot of different brands. There is a 7th edition "Knives and Razors", different from the old one I have but looks like its worth checking out.
 
If Westerns end up being one line of your collecting, The Knife Makers Who Went West, 1977, by Harvey Platts is great for identifying Westerns. Usually found on fleabay, used books stores and, rarely, on the big river site.
 
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