The Memoirs of Jan Libourel

I'm all for it. I have some special stuff squirreled away...

Sort like Peter Beard?

Is he the real-life Kramer?

Do you mean my pal Greg Kramer, the eminent holstermaker, or the Seinfeld character? I really don't know anything about the latter except he had funny-looking hair.

In any event, I think little flashes of the high points of my life, such as you chaps get here, are far more interesting and entertaining than any coherent narrative. To tell the truth, my life at least for the past 27 1/2 years has been much like that of the Roman matron whose epitaph read: DOMUM MANSIT, LANAM FECIT. ("She stayed home. She spun wool.") For me, much of my life has been spent sitting behind a desk cranking out magazines, which is not the stuff of legend.

I'm certainly no Peter Beard. He roamed Africa and had affairs with supermodels and other celebrity women. I roamed the San Gabriel (and some other SoCal) Mountains extensively. As to celebrity women, the nearest I came to that were affairs with an over-the-hill actress who had had a supporting role in a short-lived sitcom and the erstwhile homecoming queen at a large public university. Most of my amorous adventures were either sordid and squalid adventures with strumpets or fairly mundane liaisons. These days, I fear my sex life is mostly just memories! Actually, prior to being booted out of academia in 1973 at age 31, I'd had comparatively little sexual experience.

Did have some amusing adventures. Given my present dignified, conservative demeanor, people might be surprised to know that I once helped hoist Iggy Pop over the crowd at the Whisky A-Go-Go, for example. This would have been late '73, early '74, I think. Perhaps I can mention some others in appropriate spots in these fora.

I have known a veritable Who's Who of the gun culture down through the years, but that is of almost no interest to anyone not themselves a gun enthusiast.

Just to set the record straight, I can hardly be said to have had a "childhood" in Oz. I left there when I was about six weeks old when my mother took me back to the USA, skirting the Battle of the Coral Sea in the process. She had been living in Java and only went to Australia because she felt the Japanese Imperial armed forces might not be the best company for an eight-months pregnant, recently widowed American girl! She had felt flight would be contemptible, sure that the allied forces would chase the Japanese out of Java in short order, but fortunately wiser heads prevailed upon her to leave. She was always a very tough lady!

I am flattered by the interest, especially from Manton, who has hobnobbed with the greatest in the land, and whose memoirs, I'm sure, would be as much more interesting than mine as his sartorial knowledge exceeds my own.

To add to the mystique, are you the same Libourel who kept Tosas way back when? If so we communicated years ago when I had Corsos.

lefty

It's a very american caracteristic if I may say so myself. I always thought one of the major strenght of your nation was that most people were willing to try pretty much anything once at some point in their lives (some old WASP-y rule, AFAIK).

Do you think it's a particularly American trait? It seems a particular trait of those who didn't like to belong, although looking back, many of those veritable marginal types were American: Hemingway, Bowles, (Richard) Halliburton, Burroughs, (Teddy) Roosevelt et al. I suppose Karen Blixen was Danish, however. There were some British adventurer types though. Namely, many of the big-game hunters and explorers.

Mr. L. If you happen to see Massad Ayoob around, (I'm assuming you guys all meet up at the shooting range occasionally and compare badass guns ) tell him that I've always enjoyed reading his articles, especially the ones in the October 1999 American Handgunner magazine (has a permanent place in my bathroom reading pile). I think about his article on the benefits of Isosceles over Weaver in many applications every time I see someone shoot a handgun on tv or in a movie. And putting the SOSMART SOCOM pistol system in the hands of his (then 14 year old?) daughter to test the usability of the IR laser and nightvision system was genius.

I would definitely snap up a copy !!

Yep, that's me all right! Still got a nice b#tch, a great-grandaughter of my first Tosa Zuma. She was given back to her breeder because she had killed and eaten a 100-pound Akita. Surprising that. She's extremely sweet and friendly, and I haven't noticed any dog agression in her.

I haven't been in touch with Mas in a few years. He wrote quite a bit for me when I edited "Handguns" and in my first four years or so at "Gun World." Good man. I believe he relocated from New Hampshire to Florida, so there's not much chance of bumping into him except at events like the SHOT Show. Should I see him, I'll certainly convey your regards.

Small world.

We were in touch years ago when Sottile was inventing the Corso in his garage. I remember being surprised you didn't keep mastinos, if I recall your area of study correctly.

lefty