Dieter Marschall originally published his book on Walther Pistols in German, but it was translated into English to meet demand form the collector market here in the US. This is the third English edition, expanded form previous ones. Unlike most books on Walther, this one covers all of Walther's post-war production, including both current guns like the PPQ and PPX, but also the decades of production by Manurhin as well as other unlicensed copies. This makes it quite comprehensive in scope, which is great.

The book is formatted as basically a catalog of models and variations - ideal for a collector, but a bit lacking as a book that tells the story of the pistols. Whether that is a pro or a con depends on what the reader is looking for, of course. What there can be no doubt of, however, is that it is the best value for the dollar in Walther reference material right now, with a price of $44 as of this writing. One can argue where is is better or lesser than works by Rankin and others, but it is available right now and for a very reasonable price. In my opinion, the comprehensive nature with Manurhin in particular makes it an essential part of any Walther reference library.