I just got a package from Solingen today. It was my copy of The Sword - Form and Thought. It is available from the Duetsches Klingen Museum Solingen. It is fantastic. Rather than describe it I'll just post this link to Vincent's review for those of you who who have not seen it. http://blog.subcaelo.net/ensis/sword-form-thought/
I apologize if this has been covered already. I did a cursory search and did not find such a post.

Thanks, I just placed an order, although the site is not very clear on how payment works. As far as I can translate, it just says 'prepayment'.

I was planning to be in Germany for this, but it was not to be. At least there is this book. Anything with contributions from Peter Johnsson is worth the price.

I also found the process of ordering to be a huge pain in the ass, but you don't actually have to send them any of your banking info. You just have to manage to transfer the funds into their account.

You can do this through you bank, but all of my banks charge exorbitant fees. I ended up buying the book using Western Union to transfer the money to their bank. It had the lowest fee I could find, and took less time than most of the regular bak transfers I could arrange. I have only just started to read the book, but i'm really enjoying it thus far.

Anyhow, if you don't want to mess with bank transfers via your own bank, try Western Union. Still not easy or convenient, but better than paying $40 to make an $80 transfer....

The folks on the museums' end can get your the proper details for their bank. There's a sort of account identifier you can't include in the western union process, but when I was done I sent them copies of the confirmation emails from Western Union, and it all seemed to work fine.

It looked like such a PITA that I had my wife do it for me for as a Christmas gift. She's on a drug that makes her a bit manic these days so it wasn't very hard for her.

If you search around, there are a couple of online bookstores who are offering it if you can navigate the German. I just ordered one for about 75 Euros shipped to the US, Visa payment.

Battle Merchant has it in stock as well, but it runs a little bit more shipped to the States. They take PayPal.

I checked WorldCat and I don't see any in libraries outside of Germany. Perhaps one of you university students or staff wouldn't mind suggesting it as a purchase so there is at least one available inter-library loan?

I really want this book. I want to support these endeavours and the authors who contributed so much to the project.

I managed to jump through some hoops and purchased five (5) copies. Once they arrive, I'll be selling four (4) of them. I will be listing them in The Marketplace, but you're welcome to contact me via PM to give me a head's up before that should anyone be interested.

Is there a digital / PDF version available for purchase?

Thanks

Danny

Greetings all,
My lovely Bride presented me with a copy of this book for Christmas ... I have not yet had time to appreciate it but I am thrilled to add it to my library.
Best
Tim

I want to thank Ryan Renfro for the head's up on Battle-Merchant, as that certainly saved me a lot of money in comparison to buying the book directly from the museum. I'm trying to get things moving along on my own projects, and I think the book should help with regards to weapons design. That said, as of now, I think Battle-Merchant is down to their last copy...

:D

People in the US might be interested to know that the book is now available through Purpleheart Armoury:
http://www.woodenswords.com/product_p/book-schwert.htm

Not sure how many copies they have!

Regards,

Interesting how many channels are available for getting this book! I might have had a copy in hand by now if I had known which supplier to get it from - I'm still waiting for Battle-Merchant to come through. I have probably a week or two more before the import gets to my doorstep.

Lame question, is the text German, English, or both? If only the former, this would not be the first book I've bought in German with the intent of reading AFTER learning to understand the language. It may be time to fire up DuoLingo again if that is the case.

Hi Michael,

Michael Beeching wrote:

Lame question, is the text German, English, or both?

The catalogue is bilingual German-English!

Regards,

Fantastisch! :D

...I see there also seem to be hardcover copies available - I've yet to see if upgrading is a good idea, however.

I need to report that the version Purpleheart Armory ships is NOT hardcover. It's the same softcover binding that ships on the other versions (which, there doesn't actually appear to be). If you wanted a version with a tougher binding, perhaps it actually does exist somewhere, but not via their webstore. I'll get a hold of them in the next few days - perhaps there has just been a mistake.

Michael Beeching and others: please note that there is no hardcover version of this book. There were 1000 copies printed of the catalogue and they are all the same binding. Even if not hard back, it is a well made binding for the type and seems to hold up well (judging from my own copy).
The museum has now sold about half the print run, so best hurry up and order a copy before the book goes antiquarian!
:-)

I must also point out that it is *bi-lingual*: the text is in *both German AND English*.

Peter,

Thank you for the notice - thank you for your writing in general! If the museum/publisher ever decides to make a second edition, try and prompt them to launch a hardcover edition - I think the content in the book is well worth it.

...

Concerning Purpleheart Armory, Christian Darce got a hold of me the other day and said he corrected the listing, or at least was in the process of having it corrected. The book is currently sold out, so a search will not pull it up on their webstore.

Everything said, I now have a second copy of the book, and I've not yet come to a decision on what to do with it. Perhaps that in itself is what I should do with it, eh? :D

Has anyone been successful in ordering the book directly from the museum using Western Union for the payment? I'm having issues and would love to hear from someone who has been through the process...

I placed a money order in person but it apparently never reached the museum's account, and Western Union was of no help explaining why. If their online transfer system has worked for anyone else, I could try that... The museum staff have been very patient with me, but not especially clear! Just the language barrier I suppose since I can't speak German. :\

I've had my copy for a while now. An excellent book all the way around. Highly recommended.