Dear Members,

Some of you might be aware that for some time I have been working on a book about 15th-century armour, in England in particular. An extension of my PhD (completed in 2004), this very large book (about 580-700 pages, 75,000 words, 1000+ images) tells the story of the development of armour and its design in England during the 1400s.

I should say at this point that the most important point is that English armour was different. It was not just Italian armour with some fluting added. It seems to have been a totally different style, one that has very distinct lines of development all its own. It is a style that does not survive in any actual pieces of armour. But it did exist.

The primary source of visual evidence is of course the 230 funerary effigies of men in armour that survive in England and Wales. Church armour, brasses, MSS, drawings, sculpture, painting etc serve as additional references.

I've been working steadily on getting this thing published since 2004, and as you can imagine it hasn't been easy to convince publishers that they should take the project on. Well, not in the lavishly illustrated and exhaustive way I insist it must be done.

BUT- I now have a major US/UK publisher interested in producing the work. Their idea is to produce a lavish collector's edition by pre-subscription (the old-fashioned, Victorian way of doing things!), limited probably to 500 copies or less. This would be a cased hardbound work, gilded pages, high-grade paper, etc. Each copy would be hand-numbered and signed by me, and a complete list of the subscribers would be included in the text.

The cost would be 100-125 GBP, which is not cheap, but it can't really see the light of day any other way. I'll do my very best to make it worth it!

Depending on reception, (it hasn't been said but I suspect it might be possible) the publisher might then consider releasing a cheaper, paperback, general retail version, but that's a pipe-dream within a pipe-dream at the moment.

So, I have a meeting with the publisher later this week, and I am trying to gather as many names as I can, not as any sort of formal commitment, but rather just to get an idea of whether this subscription idea is even feasible.

If it went ahead, the publisher would run the subscription process officially, with online ordering options, letters of acknowledgement, etc. If this goes ahead, I hope subscription might open in July or August, with the finished work appearing in the first half of 2011.

In conclusion- if this is something that might interest you, if you might consider subscribing, were it to happen, please PM me! I'll put you on my 'potential subscribers' list, and the numbers will help me make my case. That way I can also keep everyone better informed.

I've posted this on a few of the other forums, so if you've seen this elsewhere and have already PM'd me, obviously you do not need to do so again here.

Its taken a long time to get this thing out, but if there is enough interest, this plan might just work, and at this point its the only realistic chance.

Yours sincerely,

Toby
London, UK

Wonderful news, Toby! Thanks for persevering in the work and sharing it with this community. Can't wait to own what will be another definitive work in the field!

Hi Sean,

Yeah, I'm doing my best! Its been a bit of a battle.

You're on the list!

TC

I suspect that it might be best investmant for my money done in 2011...

That will be one to watch out for. Something to keep the Paggiarino book company.
Phil

i would be very interested

I would seriously consider a subscription. Your estimated cost is approximately $150 to $185 USD at current exchange rates, thus I would have to plan ahead (happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me...)

I'm in! Well worth the cost to make this happen.

Toby, I would love to be a part of this.

I'm very happy to have started a new job and to be receiving regular income again. Great opportunities like these seem to be the exceptional additional rewards I get to indulge in.

Feel free to PM me any further details if you feel it is appropriate.

Regards,

Witek.

Already P.M. and like I said it would be something I would very much want to read and own and helping making it possible would be an honour and privilege and very much more than just buying a book but helping valuable knowledge to be preserved.

Anything under $250 would be fine with me. :D :cool:

Hi Toby,

please count me in. I just need a little bit of notice to make the funds available so just keep us informed.

Me as well. Put me on the subscriber's list, because I WILL be buying this when it's ready.

I hope people are PMing him, as he asked, and not just posting here. :)

Just bumping this one up as I think it's worth keeping it current for a few days so that a few more people have a better chance to see it and P.M. Tobias if they want to commit to buying the book and have their name added to the list that he needs to show to his publisher. ;) :D

Gee if I was rich I'd order 500 books myself to be sure that this work gets published.

So the more people commit the better the chances that I will get my copy. :p :lol:

This is relevant to my interests. I will keep this in mind when I start getting extra dough again.

PM sent, am definitely interested in this work.

Another " BUMP " in a good cause. ;) :D :cool:

Mr Capwell
Please add me to your list ...
I sent you a PM as well...
Thanks very much!
Tim Mathews