Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/801177
154 • S P O R T I N G C L A S S I C S stable of columnists and regular contributors, a stirring piece of fiction that vicariously seizes the reader and carries him into some sporting netherworld, or accounts of bucket- list trips somewhere back of beyond, Sporting Classics has the sporting lifestyle on display, front and center. Thumb through the pages of this issue, or pick up one from the past at random (and I'm betting most of you, like me, save back issues). Skip the stories and columns and, instead, look at the advertisements. Just as leafing through a vintage magazine from the 1920s or '30s will find you entranced as you look at the prices for a new Parker shotgun or have memory's warm recesses tickled by an illustration of the latest in attire from Duxbak, you will find yourself held captive by everything from classifieds directing attention to a mom-and-pop bookseller to full- or multi-page spreads on fine guns or dream destinations. Throw in a nice seasoning of vintage illustrations that remind us that visual delight doesn't always come through the lens of a camera, along with the columns and features that are always the meat on the magazine's bones, and you have a recurring feast celebrating all that is a sportsman's ambrosia. n issue on the major categories of sporting collectibles, such as guns, knives, books, decoys, stamps, etc., as well as in-depth features of interest to all collectors." While the magazine's breadth of coverage long ago transcended just collecting, it remains at the core of Sporting Classics' contents and has even expanded over time. Chuck Wechsler, with his deep interest in and knowledge of wildlife and sporting art, made these subjects a prominent part of the publication. The magazine also features skilled craftsmen who specialize in items such as custom knives and turkey calls. Over the past 36 years, the Sporting Classics staff has produced several book series, such as the Premier Press and the African Collection; anthologies of classic tales by the likes of Jack O'Connor, Robert Ruark, and Jim Carmichel; and numerous original works from talented writers. There have also been anthologies such as Lost Casts & Stolen Hunts, Horned Moons & Savage Santas, and most recently, The Greatest Quail Hunting Book Ever, bringing back classic but long-forgotten tales. Always, though, whether it is the latest catalog offering special items, a new book from one of the magazine's outstanding knives, a mallard decoy that once belonged to Nash Buckingham (its weight is a railroad spike from the old "Limb Dodger" tracks he traveled so many times on waterfowling expeditions), a signed reproduction of the portrait of Archibald Rutledge that hangs in the South Carolina State House, multiple wooden boxes holding shotshells (with a little scroll telling the tale rolled up inside) from every turkey I've ever killed, and filing cabinets crammed to overflowing with what the unknowing or uninitiated might simply dismiss as "stuff." In truth, all of these items are stuff—but it's stuff accumulated over a lifetime of magical moments afield, astream, or lost in literary dreams. Almost all sportsmen of my acquaintance own similar treasures, and over the entire span of its existence a central part of the unstated mission of Sporting Classics has been to celebrate the collectibles of sport, the items sportsmen accumulate and cherish. In the premier issue of the magazine there's a letter from then-Publisher John Culler on the reverse side of the contents page. It includes what amounts to a statement of purpose: "This magazine fills a longtime need . . . [with material in] each