With introduction by Norm Flayderman, this massive work is the NEW key reference on Sword Belts, Waist Belts, Sabre Belts, Shoulder Belts and Cartridge Belts (looped and non-looped). This book offers over 840 photos (primarily in colour) and original period drawings. In addition, this work offers the first, comprehensive research on the Anson Mills Woven Cartridge Belts: the man, the company and its personalities, the belt-related patents and the government contracts from 1880 through 1902. This book is a 'must' for all accoutrements collectors, military historians and museums. The result of over 30 years' study and collecting, 'American Military and Naval Belts, 1812 - 1902' is the most comprehensive work on the subject ever presented to the collecting fraternity. It contains examples of sword belts, sabre belts of the dragoons, cavalry and mounted artillery, waist belts, shoulder belts, and looped and non-looped cartridge belts. This work is an indispensable collectors' guide to the history, construction, material, dimensions, buckles, and belt plates of the most important accoutrement. With over 800 photos and illustrations most of them in full color, this book establishes a new high-water mark on the subject. Belts from some of the finest private and public collections in the country are shown in the detail needed to identify and understand their place in American history. Numerous overviews provide the development and reasoning behind the experimental, prototype, and production belts, and put them into the perspective that allows the collector to fully appreciate the belts in his and other collections. Great attention was given to draw upon original army documentation, correspondence, and specification, never before published in one collector-friendly volume. For the first time, the history of the Mills Woven Cartridge Belt Company is also made available to the many collectors who have these belts. The reader can read about Anson Mills, and the creation of the company and its key personalities. A major research effort facilitates detailed listing and discussion of the Mills contracts with the Ordnance Department, allowing the collector, for the first time, to understand the belts of the Indian War and Spanish American War. Mills' relationship to the Winchester Repeating Arms Company is discussed as well as the reasons behind the adoption of he several cartridge belt plates of the Indian War periods. Many questions are answered about the belts of Mills, Spalding, and Hulbert, and the parts they played in wartime. And, experimental Mills belts such as the Pattern 1902 and the Parkhurst Device Belts are shown and discussed, quoting original army documents. For the collector, the museum, and the historian, this book fills a long-awaited need. 468pp.
