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Beretta: 500 Years of the World's Finest Sporting Life

Author Nicholas Foulkes, Photographs by Andy Anderson

This landmark volume celebrates five centuries of Beretta—bringing together the rich history and experience of the world’s finest shotguns and purveyor of the sporting lifestyle. Collectors, shooting sports enthusiasts, hunters, and those who appreciate the finest aspects of the outdoor and sporting lifestyle have one thing in common all over the world—they all carry a Beretta. Since 1526, the Beretta name has been synonymous with uncompromising craftsmanship and performance in firearms. These guns have been carried into the field by some of the most iconic figures in modern culture, from Winston Churchill and Ernest Hemingway to Sean Connery and Norman Schwarzkopf, as well as current U.S. Olympic gold-medalist shooters. For the first time, the Beretta family opens the doors to its family villa, properties, and factory in Gardone, Italy, to show the world’s finest guns being made by hand. The book then immerses the reader in the field, with sumptuous photography that shows the shooting and sporting lifestyle at its best—from Argentina to Oregon, Scotland to Tanzania. It truly spans the globe: from the Beretta galleries in Buenos Aires, Dallas, London, Milan, New York, and Paris to celebrating the sporting life at Beretta's endorsed lodges, including Blackberry Farm, Tennessee, upland hunting at Highland Hills, Oregon, a traditional quail hunt at Pine Hill, Georgia, a driven shoot on the moors of Scotland, a safari in Tanzania, and duck hunting in Louisiana, Argentina, and Venice. This is the ideal gift for fine-gun aficionados, a showcase of Beretta’s best work, and a bucket list for sportsmen and sportswomen and all those aspiring to the pursuit of life afield at its finest.

About The Author

Nicholas Foulkes is the author of twenty books on subjects as diverse as James Bond, cigars, and the trench coat. He is best known for a critically acclaimed trilogy of nineteenth-century histories, and is the cofounder and editor in chief of Finch’s Quarterly Review. Andy Anderson began his photography career as the first staff photographer for Men’s Journal. Since then, he has shot for Outside, Stern, Audubon, Condé Nast Traveler, Garden & Gun, and Town & Country.

  • Publish Date: October 25, 2016
  • Format: Hardcover
  • Category: Antiques & Collectibles - Firearms & Weapons
  • Publisher: Rizzoli
  • Trim Size: 9-1/2 x 12-1/2
  • Pages: 290
  • US Price: $75.00
  • CDN Price: $100.00
  • ISBN: 978-0-8478-4974-1
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Reviews

“In a handsome new book, Beretta: 500 Years of the World’s Finest Sporting Life, writer Nicholas Foulkes and photographer Andy Anderson tell the story of how the family-owned company built that international reputation from its humble beginnings in iron-rich northern Italy. The coffee-table tome starts there, at Beretta’s headquarters in Gardone Val Trompia. Foulkes and Anderson then traveled the world for two-and-a-half years, chronicling the guns in action—from a driven hunt in Scotland to a dove shoot in Argentina to the sporting clays course at Blackberry Farm in Walland, Tennessee. Depictions of adventure stories and sweeping landscapes alternate with up-close shots of vintage weaponry and elaborate engravings to create a portrait of a sporting tradition that’s the next best thing to being in the field yourself."
—Garden & Gun

“There is only one company that brings the imagination and quality of Italian craftsmanship to outdoor living, honoring the hunting tradition with exquisite shotguns, clothing, and accessories matched to the needs of sportsmen—all while embodying inimitable Italian style.” 
—Maxim

“Easily the best written of the numerous books on Beretta, this stupendous volume gets my bullet for gun book of the year.”
—Doug Tate, Editor at Large SHOOTING SPORTSMAN

 “The book then immerses the reader in the field, with fine photography depicting the shooting and sporting lifestyle at its finest.” 
—Shooting Illustrated

"Most books focusing on a single gunmaker are dull as mud. While they are certainly of interest to historians, collectors, and in some cases technoids, they tend to sit on the shelf. This book on the other hand is a fascinating look at one of the most historic, and certainly the oldest continuously operating company in the world. While it does begin with the history of the company, it does so in an entertaining way and everything is complemented with truly fantastic photography. But unlike most of the other single gunmaker books, it also looks at the gun from the point of view of those who have owned them, some famous like Ernest Hemingway, Winston Churchill, Norman Schwarzkopf and Sean Connery, and some less so. It then goes on to 'The Sporting Life' and features shoots from around the world as it carries the reader from Scotland to Africa and beyond. It is a well-written book… the writing in a way complements the magnificent photography and beautiful production of this book more than the other way around. As is so often the case a photo is worth 1,000 words. And with the pallet of options available to the photographer, he was able to capture amazing moments, and made some ordinary experiences such as climbing into a tree stand, an experience to be shared. From humans to landscapes, from guns to game, this is a book to be enjoyed and unlike most shooting books, deserves a place on one's coffee table. Rizzoli did a fabulous job of production."
—Alex Brant, Author of The Shooter's Bible Guide to Shotgunning

"This book…is an engaging story of the development of Beretta and how their guns and accessories have become de riguer in the sporting and shooting world. From the marshes of Venice and Louisiana, to the hunting grounds of Oregon, Georgia, Argentina, Scotland, and Tanzania, the shooting lifestyle, enjoyed by so many enthusiasts is highlighted. Once the reader begins exploring this fine book, they will have a difficult time setting it aside."
— On The Fly Magazine, The eJournal of Fly Fishing and Bird Hunting

“In lively text and brilliant photographs, Foulkes and Anderson chronicle the evolution of arquebuses into flintlocks, muzzleloaders into breechloaders, and the unique marriage of woodworking and metallurgy, aesthetics and craftsmanship that goes into the production of fine firearms. In the end this is a richly illustrated case history of a business that never strayed far from its commitment to the beauty and utility of fine arms, from its graceful 17th-century flintlocks to the redoubtable M9 to the elegant SO 10 and 687 Silver Pigeons, among others."
—Gray’s Sporting Journal

Author Bookshelf: Andy Anderson

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