Larry Vickers published this guide some time ago, intended as a coffee table book - beautiful photographs and short descriptions, suppose to be a light reading while enjoying your coffee.
There are plenty of books about birth and adoption of 1911 by U.S. Army, and its numerous variants, but LAV's 1911 guide isn't about that. It shows some of his prized possessions as well as some from Ken Hackathorn and Rob Leatham's. Most of the collections feature rare 1911s from various gunsmiths.
It also is a snapshot of how 1911 evolved from about 1980s to current. History of various gunsmiths' works in last few decades has been relegated to memories of people who lived at the time, with little comprehensive documentation.
This guide features works of Pachmayr, Swenson and other gunsmiths of the era, as well as the current ones like Burton. It shows various agency models as well.
Small changes over the time can be hard to trace, but readers can get the idea of how things evolved when reading this. For people who are not in to details of 1911s, this would be just a photobook with various 1911s. However, those who like to look at details of a 1911, it can be an interesting guide to see how things evolved in last 30-40 years.
