The Queen Anne Pistol, 1660 - 1780. John Burgoyne

This book fills a gap in the arms literature by tracing the development of the design and decoration of a very English type of pistol popularly known as the Queen Anne. Developed in the middle of the 1600s, it was unique, and over a hundred years ahead of its time, since it was the first firearm to combine the frame of the lock mechanism with the breech of the barrel - what we now call the action. It was popular through the late 1700s, when the design devolved into the boxlock, which could be manufactured more inexpensively. With well organized text and almost 200 illustrations, the author shows the evolution of the design, plus the styles and decoration from the mid 17th century through the baroque and rococo designs adapted by English gunmakers, resulting in a particularly powerful, accurate and distinctive pistol, arguably the most beautiful of the black powder arms.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Anne_pistol