Greetings all,

This is to let you know that I have just uploaded a new webpage called 'The Library', where I am about to post the first of a series of short arms and armour eBook articles, absolutely free. No need to register or login.

For more details click here: http://www.masterarmourer.com/library.html

Looking forward to the content! I was impressed by the "Arms and Armour eBook 1, Alla Tedesca? Italian ‘Gothic’ Armour and the Export Trade":

[ Linked Image ]

I'm also looking forward to "What do Armourers' Marks Really Mean?". Although I would welcome higher resolution version of photos, even if it would mean much larger file size.

Thanks for your compliments!

With regard to file sizes, in web-based material picture resolution is normally at 72dpi, or 96dpi at the most. The picture files are already at 150dpi to allow them to be viewed above 100% size on screen and to be printed at reasonable quality. This was with extra file compression to keep the file to a manageable size. If we had gone for full 300dpi the files would have been enormous.

Anyway, hope you like the articles.

Thanks again.

Hello, and thank you for clarification.

Well, some of us have bigger resolution screens than others. :D I wasn't thinking of printing, just looking at a single image in a book instead on a whole page. 10MB file size is very kind for all the users with limited bandwidth, but some of us would gladly suffer 10 times longer waiting for better images afterwards. If the originals with higher resolution exist, of course.

But this was just a minor observation, book is excellent and worth every penny. Even at 150dpi. :)

Well, speaking of pictures, I have more news, but this time about a paper book.

I have been asked to write a 'picture' book of my restoration projects by Ken Trotman Ltd. You can find their website here: http://www.kentrotman.com/indexmn.htm

It will include projects from the 15th to the 17th Centuries. It should be out next year. Not much text, but lots of pictures of armour and weapons before and after restoration.

Dear All,

The topic for the first article is now selected. It's a comparison of surviving Italian and German 15th Century besagews and how they were mounted on pauldrons and spaulders. Includes patterns (to scale) taken from the original besagews.

http://www.masterarmourer.com/library.html

That's a most excellent site Chris, and the work outstanding!

Dear All,

The first free eArticle, 'Two Besagews, A Comparison of Some Surviving 15th Century Shoulder Defences' will be launching this weekend here:

http://www.masterarmourer.com/library.html

And here's the cover:

Dear all,

The first free arms and armour eArticle is now available for download at:

http://www.masterarmourer.com/library.html

More to follow

Great article, and thank you for sharing it for free!