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Tobias Capwell





Joined: 17 Jan 2007

Posts: 61

PostPosted: Wed 12 May, 2010 2:13 am    Post subject: The Big Book of English Armour... is Coming.... I Hope!         Reply with quote

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
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Sean Flynt




Location: Birmingham, Alabama
Joined: 21 Aug 2003
Likes: 10 pages
Reading list: 13 books

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PostPosted: Wed 12 May, 2010 4:08 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

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!
-Sean

Author of the Little Hammer novel

https://www.amazon.com/Little-Hammer-Sean-Flynt/dp/B08XN7HZ82/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=little+hammer+book&qid=1627482034&sr=8-1
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Tobias Capwell





Joined: 17 Jan 2007

Posts: 61

PostPosted: Wed 12 May, 2010 4:09 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Hi Sean,

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

You're on the list!

TC
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Artis Aboltins




PostPosted: Wed 12 May, 2010 4:14 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

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




Location: Wokingham, Berkshire, UK
Joined: 24 May 2008

Posts: 132

PostPosted: Wed 12 May, 2010 12:58 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

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




Location: San Antonio, TX
Joined: 13 Jun 2008
Reading list: 1 book

Posts: 382

PostPosted: Wed 12 May, 2010 1:18 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

i would be very interested
Experience and learning from such defines maturity, not a number of age
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Scott Hrouda




Location: Minnesota, USA
Joined: 17 Nov 2006
Likes: 15 pages
Reading list: 87 books

Posts: 643

PostPosted: Wed 12 May, 2010 1:30 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

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...)
...and that, my liege, is how we know the Earth to be banana shaped. - Sir Bedevere
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Greg Mele
Industry Professional



Location: Chicago, IL USA
Joined: 20 Mar 2006

Posts: 356

PostPosted: Wed 12 May, 2010 2:42 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

I'm in! Well worth the cost to make this happen.
Greg Mele
Chicago Swordplay Guild
www.chicagoswordplayguild.com

www.freelanceacademypress.com
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Witek Chmielewski





Joined: 28 Nov 2008

Posts: 12

PostPosted: Wed 12 May, 2010 3:10 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

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.
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Jean Thibodeau




Location: Montreal,Quebec,Canada
Joined: 15 Mar 2004
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PostPosted: Wed 12 May, 2010 5:55 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

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. Big Grin Cool

You can easily give up your freedom. You have to fight hard to get it back!
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Dan R




Location: Australia
Joined: 15 Mar 2010

Posts: 26

PostPosted: Wed 12 May, 2010 6:03 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Hi Toby,

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




Location: Indiana
Joined: 21 Apr 2009
Reading list: 2 books

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Posts: 297

PostPosted: Wed 12 May, 2010 6:55 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Me as well. Put me on the subscriber's list, because I WILL be buying this when it's ready.
Pastime With Good Company
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Chad Arnow
myArmoury Team


myArmoury Team

PostPosted: Wed 12 May, 2010 7:47 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

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

ChadA

http://chadarnow.com/
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Scott Kowalski




Location: Oak Lawn, IL USA
Joined: 24 Nov 2006

Posts: 818

PostPosted: Thu 13 May, 2010 4:41 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Chad Arnow wrote:
I hope people are PMing him, as he asked, and not just posting here. Happy


I PMed him yesterday morning as I am starting to take an interest in the Wars of the Roses among other things from that period. Plus, who here does not like to support one of our own?

Chris Landwehr 10/10/49-1/1/09 My Mom
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Jean Thibodeau




Location: Montreal,Quebec,Canada
Joined: 15 Mar 2004
Likes: 50 pages
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Spotlight topics: 5
Posts: 8,310

PostPosted: Thu 13 May, 2010 8:48 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Scott Kowalski wrote:
Chad Arnow wrote:
I hope people are PMing him, as he asked, and not just posting here. Happy


I PMed him yesterday morning as I am starting to take an interest in the Wars of the Roses among other things from that period. Plus, who here does not like to support one of our own?



Exactly and it's very much being a participant in getting valuable research published: So it's much much more than just buying a book for me and I encourage all who can afford to buy this book to put it high on their list of buying priorities.

I really like my swords and armour but a good book brings pleasure every time one opens it to read or re-read it and look at the graphic or photographic content: Good reference books are friends for life and I still get very great pleasure from books I bought 40 years ago.

Another point is that when one first bought a book one got some things out of it at the time but years later when re-reading the book one can get very different understanding of the content because of other knowledge acquired from other sources since the book was first read.

You can easily give up your freedom. You have to fight hard to get it back!
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Jean Thibodeau




Location: Montreal,Quebec,Canada
Joined: 15 Mar 2004
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Reading list: 1 book

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Posts: 8,310

PostPosted: Fri 14 May, 2010 5:55 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

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. Wink Big Grin

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. Razz Laughing Out Loud

You can easily give up your freedom. You have to fight hard to get it back!
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Robert S. Haile





Joined: 16 Dec 2007

Posts: 126

PostPosted: Fri 14 May, 2010 10:57 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

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





Joined: 19 Feb 2005
Reading list: 26 books

Posts: 26

PostPosted: Sat 15 May, 2010 1:16 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

PM sent, am definitely interested in this work.
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Jean Thibodeau




Location: Montreal,Quebec,Canada
Joined: 15 Mar 2004
Likes: 50 pages
Reading list: 1 book

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Posts: 8,310

PostPosted: Sat 15 May, 2010 8:03 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Another " BUMP " in a good cause. Wink Big Grin Cool
You can easily give up your freedom. You have to fight hard to get it back!
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Tim Mathews




Location: St Paul MN
Joined: 02 Oct 2004

Posts: 172

PostPosted: Sun 16 May, 2010 7:14 am    Post subject: Book         Reply with quote

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

Tim Mathews
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