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Shortly after the American Civil War, a New York dentist-turned-firearms inventor named William H. Elliot designed a revolutionary pocket pistol to fire the .41 Short rimfire caliber metallic cartridge. At the time, it was the most powerful small handgun cartridge on the market. This compact but hard-hitting pistol was immediately embraced by riverboat gamblers, ladies of the night, messengers, travelers, shopkeepers and anyone else who needed an easily concealable, large-caliber weapon for self defense. Its novel design featured twin, over-and-under barrels that swung open from a top hinge for loading and cartridge extraction, a "spur" trigger and large, comfortable grips.

This was one, but not the first, of the more than 130 firearms patents Dr. Elliot would be granted over the last half of the nineteenth century. To manufacture his new pistol, Dr. Elliot contracted with the E. Remington & Sons arms firm in upstate New York, which by 1867 had been in the gunmaking business for more than fifty years. The Remington Double Deringer, as it has become known among collectors, was sleek, simple, sturdy, effective and inexpensive. It was the right gun for its time and place, and it enjoyed the longest manufacture -- sixty-five years of virtually any firearm before or since.

This book tells its story.