Collecting historic arms replicas has been a hobby I've been wanting to get into for quite some time. Unfortunately, I haven't had the time or money to do so, until now. I'd really like to do some reading on the history of weaponry before I begin. Can anyone recommend good books for a beginning student? Thanks for your help.

Any books by Ewart Oakeshott that you can get your hands on is a great place to start.


BTW....welcome aboard!

I've got a copy of an interesting book titled "Swords & Hilt Weapons". Which covers the stone age to world war II. Lots of coloured pictures and covers most civilisations. A good general book on hilt weapons.

Thanks to both of you for the advice. "Swords and Hilt Weapons" is now in the mail, and some of Oakeshott's work won't be long in following. Oakeshott alone will keep me reading for quite some time! Thanks, again.

I'd recommend a couple books about how to use these things along the way. To me it has helped put things in context a bit here and there. Presented is some of what I've been reading, I've been happy with all of them.

Oakeshott's Records of the Medieval Sword is almost a mandatory read.

I enjoyed Christopher Amberger's Secret History of the Sword.

Both of the books by John Clements are a bit dated but they are nice if you can get them cheap.

The Arte of Defense by William Wilson sits waiting for me to have time to read it. Looks pretty good on first skim.

Chivalry Bookshelf has a good selection.

I'd recommend some good history texts as well with a focus on the time period you are interested in. In my opinion swords cannot be studied in a vaccuum but rather knowing the context that a sword was created and used in is also important.