[Don Stanko]

Sorry if someone already wrote about this particluar book but I just finished the fourth chapter tonight and I am very impressed. The book is "British Basket Hilt Swords" by Cyril Mazansky (ISBN 1 84383 053 1). It was released in 2005 by boydell press and is probably the most useful piece of modern writing I've seen since Pierce wrote "Swords of the Viking Age".This book highlights terminology and nomenclature of basket hilt swords and reviews the typology of the British Basket Hilt sword starting with the 15th century "Wakefield Sword" and works all the way into the 20th century. Essentially, what Petersen and Oakeshott did for the viking and medieval swords, Mazansky did for the British Basket Hilt. There are many great photos and statistics along with dates when available. And as a bonus there is an article at the back of the book showing you how to build your own portable studio for taking sword photos along with some really good suggestions on set up and shot angles. This information may be elementary but so am I when it comes to taking pictures.

Anyway, just thought some of you might be interested.

Don

[Stephen Hand]

It's certainly a useful book, but it isn't about basket hilted swords. It's about basket hilts and goes to perverse lengths to ignore the blade and the sword as a whole. Here's what I wrote about it on Amazon. Despite my misgivings it is a very useful book and I gave it four stars.

"I must admit to having rather mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand it is an important catalogue and typology of British basket hilts. The book contains hundreds of clear photographs of basket hilts, often from multiple angles. Many of these hilts can't be seen elsewhere. It also classifies the hilts based on a logical typology. This is certainly a book that deserves a place in the libraries of all sword enthusiasts.

However, the book also has a somewhat surreal quality in the way it focuses on the hilt to the exclusion of the rest of the sword or indeed the sword as an indivisible whole. It's a bit like reading a book about cars which only talks about their bodies, refusing to even acknowledge that they have engines and wheels. Ignoring the blade of a sword is like ignoring the engine of a car, it misses the whole point of the item. A sword is not an art object, it is a specialised tool that only really comes to life in the hand of a skilled swordsman. I have to wonder whether the author has ever fenced? Reading a book about swords by someone who isn't a swordsman is like reading a book about cars by someone who doesn't drive. I was left wondering how someone could know so much about swords and yet not really understand them at all.

So while this book is a very useful tool, it lacks the information necessary to know what (in the absence of being able to personally heft it) the sword was really like, blade length and width, weight, point of balance, centre of percussion etc, all with a picture of the whole sword. As the author of a book on how to fight with the basket hilted sword, I found much of use in this book, but so much more that was missing. One of these days I would like to see a book on swords by someone who doesn't just know a lot about swords as dead objects, but who also understands them as a practical tool."

[Don Stanko]

Great points Stephen, especially about the lack of information regarding the blade. I guess I was looking at the book as a puzzle piece to my library. I personally have very little knowledge when it comes to basket hilts, my library focuses on other time periods. So this book I found especially valuable for me to understand the subtle differences in identifying this type of sword. I suppose I tend to view literary works from the collectors standpoint.

Now I do have to disagree with you when you say that swords are not works of art. True, they are specialized tools and some weapons definitely fall into the utilitarian category But there are many swords out there that deserve the laurel of art. When I look at a sword I can see beauty in its proportions and artistic additions. The thought that goes into adding chiselling, etching, blueing and plating that accents and beautifies the sword without taking away from its usefulness.

As a collector and fencing instructor I enjoy swords on all levels. Both hobbies have brought me a better understanding and appreciation of these magnificent objects.

Don

[Stephen Hand]

Dear Don,

I said that swords weren't art objects. That's very different to saying that they weren't works of art. In my opinion a superbly designed tool that combines aesthetics with function is a work of art, regardless of overt decoration. But it's a tool first and foremost.

Cheers
Stephen

[Jean Thibodeau]

Ha! There is the art of making a good sword as the best functional tool as possible that by coincidence produces beauty through function even when no decorative elements are added.

Any decorative elements must at least be functionally neutral: Any decoration that reduces functionality goes against the first art of making the best tool possible.

If decoration, no matter, how beautiful takes priority the object become a work of art first and a functional sword second or last. ( Or no longer a real weapon but something else ....... )