[Matthew K. Shea]

Hi everyone! I logged on to vote in the poll when I noticed I had registered more than two months ago now without posting yet, and I figured I had better post soon or else I'll probably never get around to it

Anyway, I always tell myself that I won't start off in a new forum with a cliched introduction post, but invariably I always do. Just seems ... natural. I am a first-year university student who has always loved fantasy and the Medieval Ages, especially arms and armour, but have only recently started getting really interested in this from a historical perspective, not a fantasy one. That's when I discovered myArmoury, and I must say it's probably been the best online resource I've found.

And now, I add a question to put a new spin and prevent this from being just another introduction post ( ): I have a copy of George Cameron Stone's A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor in All Countries and in All Times, and I've read a few basic online reviews that range from "this is a decent general resource" to "this is a misinformed piece of garbage", but I'm looking for some more opinions on the book. I realize that there are some things in the book that are wrong or dated (for example, Stone says that the kusari gama was fired from a cannon, which I do not believe is thought to be the case anymore), but I don't know how much of it is like this. Is it in fact a good book, or should I read it with a grain of salt?

[Nathan Robinson]

You can look up the book in our bookstore and find that it's been rated by a few members on our site:


Click book cover to see it in our reading lists

We hadn't had anybody submit a review for it yet, though, so I just did.

[Bill Grandy]

[Jean Thibodeau]

I have the book also, bought around 1975, I found it interesting with a wide variety of pictures.

If there are innacuracies it is because it was originally written around 1934 and relied on a lot of Victorian interpretations that are either false or out of fashion being replaced by other theories. Read it with a grain of salt but no need to bring the whole salt shaker, even when/if the text is wrong the pictures are worth it. And there is a lot more in it right than there is wrong !

Finding a few dated theories does not mean it is a " crap " book: Some people are a little to quick to judge things when they find a few things they believe is wrong and then condem the whole book as useless.

Bottom line, I'm glad I have it.

Oh, Matthew, welcome to this site: I find that people here can exchange opinions and disagree in a very open minded way and remain respectful.

[Matthew K. Shea]

Thanks for the reviews, guys. That's pretty much what I thought, but I still felt like getting some more viewpoints.

I guess if we can say one thing about the book, it's that is has a lot of weapons pics. I know it's helped add flavour to several Dungeons & Dragons games