Wm. B. (William B.) Harrison

Wm. B. Harrison, also listed in library records as William B. Harrison, is known chiefly as the joint author of The gunsmith's manual; a complete handbook for the American gunsmith, published in New York in 1883 with J. Parish Stelle. The book has been preserved by major public collections, including the Library of Congress and Project Gutenberg, which helps confirm his role in a work that has lasted far beyond its original trade audience.

Because reliable biographical information about Harrison is scarce in the sources available, it is hard to say much with confidence about his personal life, career, or background. What can be said is that his name remains tied to a practical manual that later readers and booksellers often describe as an early detailed work on gunsmithing.

For audiobook listeners and readers, Harrison is best approached as a historical co-author whose reputation rests on a specialized nineteenth-century handbook rather than on a large, well-documented body of writing. In cases like this, the surviving book tells us more than the surviving biography.