Krause have just announced the release of the 7th edition of the indispensable Military Small Arms of the 20th Century, compiled by Ian Hogg and John We With over 800 photographs and 416 pages of data, this authoritative reference book is a valued classic and an astonishingly detailed guide to modern small arms. Ian Hogg wrote in to give us some background to the birth of this giant project: "In the late summer of 1968, Lionel Leventhal suggested that I might compile a book covering military small arms employed in the wars of the twentieth century. The idea appealed; but it also appalled, because of the sheer volume of work involved. John Weeks and I had first met in the 1950s. In 1966 1 was posted to the Royal Military College of Science as Master Gunner; within two months John turned up, now a colonel, as Director of Infantry Studies. So, in 1968, knowing he was keen to write, I suggested we split the project down the middle. We worked through 1969 and 1970, finally delivering the first text sometime in early 1971. In the spring of 1972 1 retired and moved to Portugal, and John was posted to Washington DC. This caused a considerable increase in transatlantic postal business, as we both found obscure weapons. The actual assembly of the book was conducted by John Walter in London. He attended to the design, checked that we weren't contradicting ourselves, did difficult bits of translation, and generally acted as a midwife so that, in September 1973, Military Small Arms ofthe 20th Century finally appeared. It was well received and we were proud of it, especially when DBI Books in the USA took the American rights and produced it in paperback. Then, of course, after a year or three, Lionel came back and suggested bringing it up to date. In 1975 we produced the 2nd edition and in 1977, the 3rd edition. By the time we were discussing the 5th edition, in December 1982, John was suffering from leukaemia. He died on New Year's Day 1983. Not long afterwards, whilst I was mourning the loss of a good friend, the publishers underwent a series of upheavals and the 5th edition was only released in 1985. There was a gap before the 6th appeared, during which time the book was re-cast in a new format. Unfortunately, the publishers had put a limit on the size of the book and if something new had to go in, then something old had to either come out or be compressed. I wasn't very happy with this, because the aim had always been to produce a definitive book with everything included and nothing left out. There is a standard clause in most writers' contracts to the effect that if the book goes out of print, then the author can request the publishers to produce a fresh edition. If they decline, the author can claim back the copyright and take the book elsewhere. This situation now arose with MSA20 and I took the opportunity to reclaim the copyright. At much the same time, DBI Books were taken over by Krause and they now asked about a new edition. I seized the opportunity to point out that we were close to the end of' the twentieth century and that this would be the last and ultimate opportunity to put back in everything that had been removed and to bring in new weapons. 'No problem', they said. Well there was a problem - that of writing 250,000 words and collecting 850 pictures. No computer disk of the original text existed and it all had to be done again. Similarly with the pictures - no film of the original photos could be traced and all the photos had to be 'found' again (sometimes by begging the maker, sometimes by actually going out and photographing the weapon). But eventually it all carne together and, as I have already marked the page proofs, I am assured the book will be appearing soon." The 7th edition of MSA20 will shortly be available, priced £ 18.99, from Greenhill. Back to Greenhill Military Book News No. 97 Table of Contents Back to Greenhill Military Book News List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 2000 by Greenhill Books This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com