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Historical Inspiration This forum is dedicated to the discussion of historical knife design and its influence on modern custom knife work.

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  #1  
Old 01-06-2003, 11:04 AM
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Book Shelf

So what books do you use to give you inspiration for historical patterned blades?

My number one set of books is the Wallace Collection Museum Catalogs for the arms and armour collection. I have always felt that the Wallace Collection is one of the best kept secrets of British Museums. The collection is unique in that it is static. It is therefore one of the best documented museum collections in the world. If you are ever in London, this is a must see!


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Old 01-06-2003, 01:49 PM
Brett Bennett Brett Bennett is offline
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I don't have much in the way of historical books, but I am currently reading/studying 'Knifemakers of Old San Francisco' by Bernard Levine.


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Old 01-07-2003, 12:43 PM
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A great onlne resource for Early Medieval blades is:

http://www.vikingsword.com

I'll pull some bibliography together asap...


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Old 01-07-2003, 12:53 PM
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by J.Loose
[B]A great onlne resource for Early Medieval blades is:

http://www.vikingsword.com

Jon,

Your right it is a very good on-line source. It was one of the many sources I used for a recent lecture I gave on the History and Evolution of the Sword at Cal-Tech last year (at an event called The Academy of the Sword). (That lecture is in power point, is there anyway to post such a beasty to the forum?)

I'll try to come-up with a more complete bibliography as well..........


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Old 01-08-2003, 11:42 AM
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Oakschott's "Archeology of Weapons" plus he has a bunch of other books

I will look at my library tonight and see what I've got.


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Old 01-08-2003, 02:16 PM
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Daggers and Fighting Knives of the Western World
Harold L Peterson
Dover Publications, NY, 2001 (orig Herbert Jenkins, London, 1968)
ISBN 0486417433

The Book of the Sword
Richard F Burton
Dover Publications, NY, 1987 (Orig Chatto & Windus, London, 1884)
ISBN 0486254348

The Sword in the Age of Chivalty
Ewart Oakeshott
Boydell, Woodbridge, 1964
ISBN 0851157157 pbk 0851153623 hbk

Anglo-Saxon Weapons & Warfare
Richard Underwood
Tempus, Stroud, 1999
ISBN 0752414127


More to follow

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Old 01-09-2003, 01:04 PM
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I've heard about that Burton book. Roger, Is it worth it? is my question.

here's my library so far. I know I am missing a book or two

The Vikings
James Graham-Campbell & Dafydd Kidd
(not just weapons)

Swords and Hilt Weapons
Michael D. Coe, Peter Connolly, Anthony Harding, Victor Harris, Donald J. LaRocca, Anthony North, Thom Richardson, Christopher Spring & Fredrick Wilkinson
(covers lots, each author has there own chapter - Egyptian, Medieval, Modern, Japanese, Asian etc.)

The Archaeology of Weapons: Arms and Armour from Prehistory to the Age of Chivalry
R. Ewartt Oakshott

Arms through the Ages
William Reid


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Old 01-09-2003, 08:33 PM
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ok here goes.....

As mentioned by others,

Daggers and Fighting Knives of the Western World
Harold L Peterson

Anything by Ewart Oakeshott, Currently I have ......

The Sword in the Age of Chivalry
and
The Archeology of Weapons
and
European Weapons and Armour
by Oakeshott

English Weapons & Warfare 449-1660
A.V.B. Norman & Don Pottinger
ISBN 0-88029-044-7

Wallace Collection Catalogues; European Arms and Armour (vol 1 and 2)
by Sir James Mann

Knives and scabbards. Medieval finds from excavations in London
by Jane Cowgill, Margrethe De Neergaard, Nick Griffiths
(1987), London : H.M.S.O.

Then There are the books by Jim Hrisoulas, I have all three (Number 4 is in the works)
The Complete Bladesmith
The Master Bladesmith
and
The Pattern-Welded Blade

These books are more then how-to books, There is some great historical research buried in there by Dr Jim.

Also briding the gap between how-to and historical inspiration is.....

The Craft of the Japanese Sword
by Leon Kapp, Yoshido Yoshihara, Tom Kishida (Photographer), Yoshindo Yoshihara (Contributor), Hiroko Tateno Kapp (Contributor)
ISBN: 087011798X


Plus I have many, many others. But these are my best resources. Many of my other books are not on knife topics but have a more then a few good blade references. This is most true on my books on the viking era.


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Last edited by sjaqua; 01-10-2003 at 12:31 PM.
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  #9  
Old 01-11-2003, 01:56 PM
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Jerry, in answer to your question about the Burton book, I would say yes, buy a copy. It is inexpensive and quite informative. Burton visited all the great armouries of Europe and Asia when researching this book. Obviously no photographs but lots of line drawings.

Burton may not have been the greatest scholar of his age but he did deliver the Kama Sutra to the Western world and Arabian Nights: Tales from a Thousand and One Nights, he translated them both, not bad!

Right, another of the Oakeshott books:

Records of the Medieval Sword
Ewart Oakeshott
Boydell, Woodbridge, 1991
ISBN 0851155391 hbk 0851155669 pbk

This is pretty substantial, 11" x 9" and 306 pages with lots of clear photographs (all B&W) and plenty of detailed commentary as you'd expect from Oakeshott.

Scott, I have the first 'Dr Jim' book and the other two are on my 'wish list' but nobody has taken the hint yet

Roger


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Old 01-12-2003, 07:49 PM
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Here are several books on the edged weapons of Frontier America plus a couple of others. Some of these are just generalized treatises, but they all contain some good and interesting images. The Oakeshott books are my major sources for medieval blades and they have been previously listed. Unfortunately some of the books below are hard to find and very expensive when found (fortunately for me I have a couple of well to do customers hwo own them). For leather the books by J. W. Waterer such as "Spanish Leather" (I have only browsed through this one once and would love to have it, but it's too expensive for my pocketbook). One of my favorites and one I'm lucky enough to own is:
"Leather Craftsmanship"
J. W. Waterer
Frederick A Praeger, 1968
It has a photo of the oldest known (at least in 1968) surviving leather knife sheath holding a neo-lithic flint celt.

"American Knives, The First History And Collector's Guide"
Harold L. Peterson
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1958

"The Knife In Homespun America And Related Items"
Grant, Madison
York, PA. Privately Printed 1984

"The Antique Bowie Knife Book"
Bill Adams, J.Bruce Voyles, & Jerry Moss
Conyers, GA. Museum Publishing. 1990

"Native American Weapons"
Colin F. Taylor
London, UK. Salamander Books Ltd. 2001
Norman, OK. Univ. of Oklahoma Press. 2001
ISBN: 0-8061-3346-5

"The Peacemakers"
R.L. Wilson
New York. Random House. 1992
ISBN: 0-679-40494-5

"American Indian Tomahawks"
Harold L. Peterson
NY. Heye Foundation. 1965

"Heraldry & Armor Of The Middle Ages"
Marvin Pakula
New York. A.S.Barnes and Co. 1972
ISBN: 0-498-07843-4

"Arms And Armour"
Frederick Wilkinson
UK. Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd. 1978
ISBN: 1-85152-957-8

"Scottish Swords and Dirks an illustrated reference guide to Scottish edged weapons"
John Wallace
Stackpole Books 1970
SBN: 8117-1509-4 (that's what it says SBN not ISBN)

Chuck


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Old 01-12-2003, 07:51 PM
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Mr. Moderator - could you perhaps make this thread a sticky?

I think that would be appreciated over time.

Thanks-Chuck


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Old 01-13-2003, 04:10 PM
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Consider it stuck

We might unstick the thread later in its life, I notice that 'stickies' don't get a lot of traffic, people like them for reference though. SO what I might do is collect all the titles from this thread and tidy them up before posting them in a separate locked sticky (just to play with the tools )

Roger


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Old 01-13-2003, 06:59 PM
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Sounds good Roger. I try and copy things into a file on my hard drive, but sometimes I forget or just plain lose it. Ther's some interesting books her though so I sure wouldn't want to lose them.

Chuck


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  #14  
Old 01-14-2003, 12:30 PM
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Scott, you just cost me a few pounds

You posted this:

Knives and scabbards. Medieval finds from excavations in London
by Jane Cowgill, Margrethe De Neergaard, Nick Griffiths
(1987), London : H.M.S.O.
ISBN 0112904408

So when I saw a copy on offer I had to have it

It arrived this morning so I stood around reading it for a bit before going to work. I started again when I got home. Great stuff, it's definitely going to be worth quoting a few pieces from that book in this forum. The scabbards are facinating.

Roger


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Old 01-14-2003, 12:36 PM
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Roger,

Sorry about the cost, but glad you like the book. So far I am extremely please with every title I have gotten from the Museum of London.


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Last edited by sjaqua; 01-17-2003 at 05:55 PM.
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