  This booklet is not intended to be the last word on Southern Derringers. I suspect that it is merely intended to be a guide for someone who has more patience than I to do the research work that is required on a complete story. I am listing 29 different makers all of which are authenticated. This story does not include pocket pistols, which are of a slightly different shape nor does it include overcoat pistols or duelling pistols. I think these are of an entirely different category even if these same makers produced them. You may debate the excluding of the following:
Because I live in the Mississippi Valley, the guns that I am describing are of special interest to me and the others that can be called southern guns do not fit into my scheme of things. Thus I have narrowed down geographically this story of the derringers of the Mississippi Valley to an exclusive group. It is sad that so little research work has been done in this direction in the past. Careful study of other books shows that only six or eight of these twenty-nine names and authenticated guns are spoken of in limited terms. Since I got my first muzzleloading gun when I was 12 years old, I guess you could say I have been collecting guns for 38 years. In that length of time I have met many wonderful people and made numerous everlasting friends. Among these people are Hume Parks, Hal Swann, Cecil Godman, Dr. Bill Huckaba, Dr. D. R. Moore, Leon Jackson, Robin Hale, Harry G. King and Charles Elias all of which ably assisted me with this booklet and without those efforts, it would not have been possible. {Trophy Shelf} During the 20 months in 1969 and 1970 that we have been displaying our derringers at gun shows we have won 25 awards. Our derringers have been displayed from the East Coast to the West Coast and from the North to the South. Great acclaim was given them at the National Rifle Association Convention. Considering the point that awards are won not only on quality or quantity but on the educational value, we believe that our display is one of the best. Now that the ice has been broken towards listing and showing all of the different southern makers, let us hope that our collector friends will come up with more information and more details of when these little known gunsmiths and dealers operated and perhaps new makers that are not now recognized or known. This chart shows the relative rarity of Southern derringers in the opinion of several knowledgeable collectors. Position #1 is the easiest to obtain and position #10 is the hardest to find. The text of this book takes up each maker in this same order.
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