[John Piscopo]

Dear Friends,

I have copied and pasted this bibliography to compliment my recently posted SE Asian Studies bibliography. I hope this information is useful to your studies. All of these titles are in my library and are therefore, by definition, available.

The best place I have found to purchase the books below is my loca Paragon Book here in downtown Chicago. You can purchase for shipment using your credit card. Just search the author's name, title or keyword to find the book you have an interest in. Go to: http://paragonbook.com/

Best regards, John Piscopo

CHINA

Allen, Anthony J. Allen's Authentication of Ancient Chinese Bronzes. Published by the Author, Auckland, New Zealand. 2001. ISBN: 0-473-08045-1 Allen's Antiques $79. plus shipping. Tony gives much deatailed info on how to tell the genuine from the fake vessels and weapons with good photography and large print text for us old fogies with bifocals.Available from Tony's website at: http://www.allensantiques.com/

Dong, Cheng & Zhong Shao-yi. Ancient Chinese Weapons: A Collection of Pictures. The Chinese People's Liberation Army Publishing House. 1990. Chinese Language. ISBN: 5065-0646-7 Encyclopedic in 303 pages. Very useful for any collector, a good section on minority group weapons also. A Collection of Pictures

Gettens, Rutherford John. Two Early Chinese Bronze Weapons with Meteoric Iron Blades. Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution. Washington, DC. 1971. No ISBN.

Hong, Yang. Weapons in Ancient China. Science Press, New York &
Beijing. 1992. ISBN: 1-880132-03-6
This is the English Language Bible of ancient Chinese weapons,
available in both Chinese and English language editions. Highly
recommended. Paragon # 149. $90.
Weapons in Ancient China

Lee Jen Wei. Chinese Bronze Ware in Pictures. ISBN 7-5044-4073-6. 2 Volumes 511 pages, 228-256 are weapons with descriptions in Chinese. No English at all. I purchased my set in an eBay auction in October of last year for $71. I could not find it for sale.

Trousdale, William. The Long Sword and Scabbard Slide in Asia.
Smithsonian Institute Press. Washington, D.C. 1975. No ISBN. Three of five chapters discuss Chinese swords and fittings. I purchased mine on an eBay auction for $28. and have seen it several times since. Asian
Rare Books (arbs@erols.com) has a copy for $40.
Contact: Stephen Feldman. Cheaper copies are available from:Long
Sword & Scabbard $30. Long Sword & Scabbard Slide $32.

Loehr, Professor Max. Chinese Bronze Age Weapons: The Werner
Jannings Collection in the Chinese National Palace Museum, Peking.
University of Michigan Press. Ann Arbor, MI. 1956. No ISBN. Covers the full range of weapons: axes, dagger axes (ge), spearheads, knives and daggers and swords. There is also a chapter on Siberia in the Early Bronze Age. Highly recommended for any collector or dealer of Chinese weapons. I purchased my copy from Paragon for $180. but I have found at least one cheaper copy: Chinese Bronze Age Max Loehr $140. , but if you can't find it available at Chinese Weapons, Max Loehr or the most expensive of all at $605.: Jannings Collection Max Loehr

National Palace Museum. Illustrated Catalogue of Ancient Bronze
Weaponry in the National Palace Museum. Published by the Museum.
1995. ISBN: 957-562-199-9. A lesser version of the C.H. Wang format with 50 weapons
illustrated and text in both Chinese and English. Many weapons also
have xray pictures. The catalog shows a good number of Ordos weapons, daggers and knives as well. Paragon # 135. $125. National Palace Museum

Wang, C.H. with Li Xueqin, Yang Hong, & Ma Chengyuan. Shang and Zhou Chinese Bronze Weaponry: The C.H. Wang Collection. Published by the Author, Taipei, Taiwan 1993. No ISBN. An indispensible full color catalog of a world class collection, 116 plates with descriptions in both Chinese and English. Highly recommended. A good friend, Tony Allen, purchased it in Hong Kong for me. Use the search engines for books. The label says Tai Yip HK 1840.00

Note: I have additional titles on bronze vessels, history and art
exhibitions if anyone is interested.

DIAN MINORITY (YUNNAN PROVINCE)

Zang, Zengqi. Dian Guo yu Dian Wenhua. (Dian Kingdom and Culture)
100 color plates and many line drawings. Shows the affinity of this
culture with Dong Son in the Vietnamese Red River Valley. Chinese
language. Paragon # 8375 $20. Dian Kingdom & Culture

QIANG AND OTHER MINORITY KINGDOMS (SICHUAN PROVINCE)

Ancient Sichuan: Treasures from a Lost Civilization. Bagley, Robert, Editor. Princeton University Press. Princeton, NJ. 2001. ISBN: 0-691-08851-9, Ancient Sichuan Treasures Book Available from Paragon, $60. plus shipping. They will give a 10% discount if you ask for it. This is a catalogue of a traveling exhibition, 359 oversized pages with very good photography of arts and weapons from the tribal kingdoms often called Western Han but going back in time to the Zhou.

MOGOLIA AND THE ASIAN STEPPES

Brentjes, Burchard. Arms of the Sakas (and other tribes of the Central Asian Steppes. Rishi Publications. Varanasi, India. 1996. ISBN: 81-85193-16-9 $72. Vedam's eBooks http://www.vedamsbooks.com

Bunker, Emma. Ancient Bronzes of the Eastern Eurasian Steppes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections. Published by the Arthur M. Sackler Foundation. New York, NY. 1997. ISBN: 0-8109-63485-5
I purchased my copy from Paragon for $75. but they no longer list it on their catalog. Ordos Bronzes- Rawson & Bunker

Loehr, Max. Ordos Daggers and Knives: New Material Classification and Chronology. Artibus Asia, Seperatum Volume XII, 1/2 (daggers) & Volume 14 1/2 (knives)Ascona, Switzerland. 1949. Paragon. $100.

ANCIENT CHINESE BRONZE VESSELS, PORCELAIN AND JADE ARTS

Allen, Anthony (Tony) J. Allen's Introduction to Later Chinese Porcelain. Published by the author. Auckland, New Zealand. 1996. ISBN: 0-473-03836-6. Available from Tony's website: http://www.allensantiques.com/
d'Argence, Rene-Yvon Lefebvre, Editor. Bronze Vessels of Ancient China in the Avery Brundage Collection. Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. 1977. No ISBN.

Capon, Edmund. Art and Archaeology in China. The MacMillan Company of Australia. South Melbourne, Australia. 1977. ISBN: 0 335 22957 1

Gettens, Rutherford John. The Freer Chinese Bronzes, Volume II, Technical Studies. Smithsonian Institution. Washington, DC. 1969.
No ISBN.

Gump, Richard. Jade: Stone of Heaven. Doubleday & Company., Garden City, NY. 1962. No ISBN

Historical Relics Unearthed in New China. Foreign Languages Press. Peking, China. 1972. No ISBN. All art pictures, introduction in Chinese.

Keverne, Roger, Editor. Jade. Lorenz Books. New York, NY. 1991. ISBN: 1 95967 191 8 $52.50 from Amazon.com

Pope, John Alexander. The Freer Chinese Bronzes, Volume I, Catalogue. Smithsonian Institution. Washington, DC. 1967. No ISBN.

Sullivan, Michael. The Arts of China. University of California Press. Berkeley, CA. 1984. ISBN: 0-520-04918-7. Paperback.

Treasures from the Bronze Age of China: An Exhibit from the People's Republic of China. The Metropolitan Museum of Art & Ballantine Books, New York, NY. 1980.ISBN: 0-87099-230-9 (MMA) ISBN: 0-345-29051-8-1295 (Ballantine) Paperback.

ANCIENT CHINESE MILITARY WRITINGS

Sawyer, Ralph D. Translator. The Seven Military Classics of Ancient China. Westview Press. Boulder, CO. 1993. ISBN: 0-8133-1288-0

_____________________. Sun Pin: Military Methods. Westview Press. Boulder, CO. 1995. ISBN: 0-8133-8887-2

BAN CHIANG, DONG SON AND INDO-CHINESE CULTURES

Tan, Ha Van. Van Hoa Dong Son O Viet Nam. The Ancient Dong Son Culture of Vietnam. 1995. Social Sciences Publishing House. Hanoi, Vietnam. 1994. No ISBN. Everything you want to know about Dong Son if you can read Vietnamese. There is a good English language Table of Contents at the end of the book. Almost all weapons but some
vessels, drums, bracelets and miscellany. I have a photocopy of the
book from a Danish friend. Here is a useful website:
DongSonCloudband

Higham, Charles. The Bronze Age of Southeast Asia. Cambridge
University Press. 1996. ISBN: 0 521 56505 7. Covers extensive archaeology of South China, Vietnam and Thailand in detail and notices the areas of East India, Burma, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Phillipines. Many weapons illustrated with line drawings and many dig diagrams. Paragon # 20. $34.95 Bronze Age of SE Asia by C. Higham

Higham, Charles & Thosarat, Rachanie. Prehistoric Thailand: From
Early Settlement to Sukhothai. River Books. Bangkok, Thailand. 1998.
A good archaeology book but it illustrates few weapons. Prehistoric
Thailand - Charles Higham

Labbe, Armand J. Ban Chiang: Art and Prehistory of Northeast
Thailand. Bowers Museum, Santa Ana, CA. 1985. A survey of the Ban
Chaing artifacts, shows adzes, axes and spearheads with some molds.
Not great for weapons, good for pottery.

White, Joyce. Discovery of a Lost Bronze Age: Ban Chiang. University
of PA Press, Philadelphia, PA. 1982. I don't have this book in my
library yet. It is available from Ursus Books for $50.75 Discovery
of Lost Bronze Age: Ban Chiang.

ORDOS AND NORTHERN STEPPE CULTURES

Bunker, Emma C. Ancient Bronzes of the Eurasian Steppes from the
Arthur M. Sackler Collections. Arthur M. Sackler Foundation. 1997.
Lots of daggers, knives, axes and a few swords. Full color
illustrations of high quality weapons and other bronzes, attributed
by culture. Highly recommended. Paragon # 3453 $75. Sackler
Collection - Emma Bunker

Loehr, Professor Max. Ordos Daggers and Knives: New Material,
Classification and Chronology. First Part: Daggers. Artibus Asiae
Vol. XII, 1/2. 1949 Paragon #17309.$100. Artibus Asiae XII 1/2 Loehr
Ordos Second Part: Knives, Artibus Asiae Vol. XIV, 1/2. I purchased
both Seperatum (folios) for $87.50 from Asian Rare Books:
arbs@erols.com Contact: Stephen Feldman I can highly recommend these
for all the basics on Ordos that all following authors have copied.

Rawson, Jessica and Bunker, Emma Ancient Chinese and Ordos Bronzes. Exhibition Catalogue at Hong Kong Museum of Art. 1990. ISBN: 962-7496-01-4 Ordos Bronzes- Rawson & Bunker $137.50 from Paragon.

The Oriental Ceramic Society of Hong Kong Exhibition October 12-
December 2, 1990. Figures 55 - 66 are the only weapons, full color.
All weapons are Chinese in spite of the title. Paragon #140 $137.50

[John Piscopo]

Dear Friends,

Anyone interested in ancient Mycenaean, Anatolian, Greek and Thracian wea[pms and warfare should obtain the following books. I would be happy to assist anyone in finding them. All of the following books are in my library, collected over many years, so they are available. I will copy and paste this bibliography to a File at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ancientweapons
for permanent access and I will update it in the future if I obtain additional titles.

Andronicos, Manolis. Vergina: The Royal Tombs and the Ancient City. Ekdotike Athenon. Athens, Greece. 1991. ISBN: 960-213-128-4. I purchased my copy from Aspen Book Shop through ABE for $72.

Brannigan, Keith. Aegean Metalwork of the Early and Middle Bronze Age. Oxford Monographs on Classical Archaeology. At the Clarendon Press, Oxford, UK. 1974. I purchased mine from Archaeologica.com for $300.

Connolly, Peter. Greece and Rome at War. Greenhill Books div. of Stackpole Books. Mechanicsburg, VA. 1981. ISBN: 1-85367-303-X

Erkanal, Hayat. Die Axte und Beile des 2. Jahrtausends in Zentralanatolien.
(Flat and Socketed Axes of the 2nd Millennium BC in Central Anatolia).
C.H. Beck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung. Munchen, BRD.1977. ISBN: 3-406-00768-1. Prahistorische Bronzefunde Abt. IX, Band 8.

Hackett, General Sir John, Editor. Warfare in the Ancient World. Facts on File.
New York, NY. 1989. ISBN: 0-8160-2459-6.
Hoplite Warfare by John Lazenby.
Alexander the Great by Dr. Albert Devine.
Hellenistic Warfare by Dr. Nick Secunda.

Hall, H.R, The Civilization of Greece in the Bronze Age (The Rhind Lectures 1923) Cooper Square Publishers, Inc. New York, NY. 1970. (Reprint of the original 1928 edition)

Head, Duncan. Armies of the Macedonian and Punic Wars: Organisation, tactics, dress and weapons. A Wargames Research Group Publication. 1982.

Killian-Dirlmeier. Die Schwerter in Griechenland (ausserhalb der Peloponnes) Bulgarien und Albanien (The Swords of Greece (also the Pelopponese) Thrace and Epirus). Prahistorische Bronzefunde Abteilung IV, 12. Band. Franz Steiner Verlag. Stuttgart, Germany. 1993. ISBN: 3-515-06020-0. German Language. I purchased mine through Amazon.de for euro 94.80, including shipping. I have two swords illustrated in the group, I will forward an email on them to anyone interested.

Matthaus, Hartmut. Metallgefasse und Gefassuntersatze der Bronzezeit, der geometrischen und archaishen Periode aus Cypern mit einem Anhang der bronzezeitlichen Schwertfunde auf Cypern. C.H. Beck'sche Verlagsbuch-
handlung. Munchen, BRD. 1985. ISBN: 3-406-30151-7. German Language. Prahistorische Bronzefunde Abt. II, Band 8.
___________________. Die Bronzegefasse der dretisch-mykenishen Kultur. C.H. Beck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlumg. Munchen, BRD. 1980. Abt. II, 1 Band.
ISBN: 3-406-04002-0.

Molloy, Barry. Weapons and Warfare at the end of the Mycenaean era. He wrote it as an undergraduate paper/ 1999. He is a member of this forum, ask him for a copy. I downloaded and printed a copy, then tracked him down. It is no longer posted on the internet that I know of. viacras@yahoo.com

Muller-Karpe, Andreas. Altanatolisches Metallhandwerk. Wachholtz Verlag Neumunster. 1994. (Ancient Anatolian Metal Artifacts). ISBN: 3-529-1175-4.

Naue, Dr. Julius. Die Vorromishen Schwerter aus Kupfer, Bronze und Eisen. Two Volumes, one text and the other illustrations, all line drawings. Verlag der K. Priv. Kunst-Anstalt Piloty &Loehle. Munchen, Bavaria. 1903. I have a copy once owned and signed by Stuart Piggott. Dr. Naue and Oscar Montellius were the pioneers in the study of ancient European weapons. John Evans in England wrote similarly on weapons in the British Isles. This is a very rare book and will need some hunting. I bought minw from Ken Trottman in the UK for $273., including shipping.

Papadopoulos, Thanasis J. The Late Bronze Age Daggers of the Aegean I The Greek Mainland. Praehistorishe Bronzefunde, Abteilung VI, 11. Band. Franz Steiner Verlag. Stuttgart, Germany. 1998. ISBN: 3-515-06152-5. English Language. I purchased mine from Wasmuth.de for $54.

Snodgrass, Anthony M. Arms and Armour of the Greeks: Thames and Hudson. London, UK. 1967.
___________________ The Dark Age of Greece: AnArchaeological Survey of the Eleventh to the Eighth Centuries BC. University Press. Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. 1971.
___________________ Early Greek Armour and Weapons. University Press. Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. 1964.

Warry, John. Warfare in the Classical World. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, OK. 1980. 1980. Paperback. ISBN: 0-8061-2794-5.

Webber, Christopher. The Thracians 700 BC - AD 46. Osprey Publishing. Oxford, UK. 2001. Paperback. ISBN: 1-84176-329-2.

[Justin Gifford]

[John Piscopo]

Dear Justin,

Yang Hong's book is very good and has the advantage of being translated into English. The text is very good but you will be disappointed in the paucity of illustrated weapons. A complimentary book in Chinese that will be invaluable is:

Dong, Cheng & Zhong Shao-yi. Ancient Chinese Weapons: A Collection of Pictures. The Chinese People's Liberation Army Publishing House. 1990. Chinese Language. ISBN: 5065-0646-7 Encyclopedic in 303 pages. Very useful for any collector, a good section on minority group weapons also. A Collection of Pictures

The book is not particularly expensive and is available from Paragon. I would recommend that you go to their website and order it today. You will not be disappointed upon its arrival.

[Justin Gifford]

Dear John,

Yeah, I spotted that one straightaway, but I got sidetracked before I could look for it at Paragon. I can't seem to find it now, though. I'll keep an eye out for it in the future, though.

Shalom,

~JAG

[John Piscopo]

Dear Friends,

I have just added the following to my Library:

Wen, Li. Editor. The Sword of Gou Jian, King of Yue State and the Spear of Fu Chai, King of Wu State. Jointly presented by the Hu Bei Provincial Museum and The China Resource Artland Company, Limited. THE Museum of Chinese Historical Books. Hong Kong, China. 1984. 16 pages in both Chinese and English text.

[Melanie R.]

I am new to the forum and have not read through the extensive postings, so please forgive me if I repeat someone else's posts.

There are many good books among those listed here, but there is one with which I am familiar that has some significant errors. Allen's "Authentication of Ancient Chinese Bronzes" was written with the best intent, but by a man who faced the daunting task of trying to become an expert in Chinese bronzes and porcelain. Quite a job.

In his book, there are scientific errors, and some of the conditions sited as good evidence of antiquity are now known to be largely invalid. Similarly, some of the methods Mr. Allen describes as unreliable are actually among the best methods for identifying characteristics consistent or inconsistent with the proposed age.

The problem is that any hard science can be innocently misinterpreted or important features missed, and good scientific techniques may not be suited to all metals. You have to choose your scientific technique and your scientist carefully. Finding someone with extensive experience in the field of your specific antiquity is vitally important.

At this time, the best combination of tests for most Chinese bronzes (and many other metal artifacts) consists of: 1) a thorough visual examination by an experienced specialist in the field of that type and age of item, 2) radiography, 3) metallurgical analysis by electron probe microanalysis (EPMA or 'microprobe') of a solid metal sample, and 4) a metallographic examination of a solid sample. I must stress that this authentication requires a combination of tests and examinations. All too often, I examine forgeries that have incorporated pieces of ancient metal at the locations most likely to be sampled. The microprobe and metallography may come back fine, but a radiograph can reveal the deception.

Remember that a radiographer trained to read modern materials may innocently misidentify characteristic of ancient metals. I have seen pastiche constructions identified as repairs, modern repairs identified as ancient, and normal construction techniques listed as abnormalities. Again, chose your scientist carefully.

For those wishing to learn more about metallographic examination, Metallography and Microstructure of Ancient and Historic Metals, by David A. Scott (Getty Conservation Institute, 1991, ISBN 0-89236-195-6), is a good book.

Mr. Allen's book was written with good intent and a true desire to protect people from purchasing a forgery, and I am in no way speaking ill of the man, his intent, or his business. I simply wish to report that some of the science in his book on Chinese bronze authentication is weak.

[Sam T.]

This would have been a lot easier if you could read Chinese. But there are some other good books in English that aren't mentioned here. I'll come up with a list shortly to post here.

[Kasey Godard]