‘The Cowboy Boot Book’

Author: Tyler Beard, with photographs by Jim Arndt

Info: Gibbs Smith Publisher, 1992, $29.95 hardcover; 152 pages includes a brief glossary and source guide for boot buying.

“If you really need to let the world know exactly who you are, or if you need to express yourself or take a stand with what you stand in, go see a custom boot maker,” advises author Tyler Beard. “It costs about the same as a few visits to a good therapist but it’s a lot more fun.”

Tyler, a boot collector himself, recaps the lively history of boot making and the anatomy of a boot along with a whole chapter on how to get a perfect fit.

He also covers five of the major boot manufacturers and introduces 12 of the industry’s current artisans and provides samples of their distinctive styles. This is where the colorful photography really comes into play.

I do wish that price estimates were included, at least for some of the more outrageous examples in the “Gallery of Killer Boots” chapter.

If this book whets your appetite for bygone eras, you can see real vintage boots out at the Roy Rogers Museum in Victorville and at the Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum in Los Angeles.

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This book is available at Rizzoli Bookstore in South Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa, and other area bookstores.