Hardcover, black cloth cover, without dust jacket, entitled "The Comprehensive Guide to Soviet Orders and Medals" by Paul McDaniel and Paul J. Schmitt, copyrighted in 1997 by Paul McDaniel, first published in 1997 by Historical Research L.L.C. of Arlington, Virginia, produced for the publishers by John Taylor Book Ventures of Hatfield, Herts, United Kingdom, typeset by Nene Phototypesetters of Northampton, United Kingdom, printed in Hong Kong, Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 97-70605, ISBN 0-9656289-0-6. It begins with a Table of Contents, followed by an Acknowledgments, a Foreword by Dr. Dietrich Herfurth (dated May 9, 1996 at Berlin), an Introduction and a Glossary of Terms. The bulk of the book is divided into seven segments (each individual listing stating the History, the Regulations, information regarding Collecting the Orders/Medals {identifying types and variations in the types, medal content, size, attachments, rarity rating} and identifying known Fakes): (i) Titles (two sections: The Title "Hero of the Soviet Union" and the Gold Star Medal; The Title "Hero of Socialist Labor" and the Gold Sickle and Hammer Medal); (ii) Orders (nineteen sections: Order of Victory; Order of Lenin; Order of the October Revolution; Order of the Red Banner; Order of Suvorov; Order of Ushakov; Order of Kutuzov; Order of Nakhimov; Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky; Order of Alexander Nevsky; Order of the Patriotic War; Order of the Red Banner of Labor; Order of Friendship of Peoples; Order of the Red Star; Order for Service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces of the USSR; Order of the Badge of Honor (including Order of Honor); Order for Personal Courage; Order of Glory; Order of Labor Glory); (iii) Medals (Serial Numbered) (six sections: Medal for Bravery; Ushakov Medal; Medal for Combat Service; Nakhimov Medal; Medal for Valiant Labor; Medal for Distinguished Labor); (iv) Medals (Not Serial Numbered) (twenty-two sections: Jubilee Medal for the 100th Anniversary of Lenin's Birth; Partisan Medals; Medal for Distinction in Guarding the State Border of the USSR; Medals for Distinguished Military Service; Medal for Distinguished Service in the Preservation of Public Order; Medal for Bravery in a Fire; Medal for Saving LIfe from Drowning; "Defense of" Campaign Medals (Leningrad, Odessa, Sevastopol, Stalingrad, Moscow, Kiev, the Caucasus, Soviet Polar Regions); Medal for Victory Over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945; Medal for a Veteran of Labor; Medal for a Veteran of the Armed Forces of the USSR; Medal for Strengthening Military Cooperation; Medals for Restoration, Construction, and Development; Jubilee Medals for the 20th through 70th Anniversaries of the Armed Forces of the USSR; Jubilee Medal for 50 Years of the Soviet Militia; Medals for the City Anniversaries of Moscow, Leningrad and Kiev); Medals for Irreproachable Service in the Armed Forces of the USSR); (v) The Motherhood Series of Awards (three sections: Title "Mother Heroine" and the Order "Mother Heroine"; Order of Maternal Glory; Motherhood Medals); (vi) Duplicate and Reissue Awards (two sections: Duplicate Awards; Reissue Awards); (vii) Associated Items for Soviet Orders and Medals (Documents, Booklets, Types of Suspensions, Attachments, Ribbons). It concludes with a Bibliography. The book contains 410 pages of descriptive text and is illustrated with photographs throughout, printed in brilliant colour on a thick semi-coated white paper stock, weighing 2 kilograms, measuring 220 mm (w) x 285 mm (h) x 40 mm (d). It exhibits a slight weakness in the binding, as the front cover shifts versus the body of the book due to the endpapers separating from the applied adhesive, a blue dye evident on the edges of the bottom pages, along with missing its dust jacket, however, the pages remain unaffected. A superb go-to resource book for the collector of Soviet Orders and Medals. Better than very fine.
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