I have been trying to expand my library, and had mostly books on my holiday wish list. These are my new acquisitions:
Shiny Shapes:Arms & Armor (Edition Joanneum) by Landesmuseum Janneum
European Weapons and Armour: From the Renaissance to the Industrial Revolution, by Ewart Oakeshott
(these first two are currently very expensive!)
The Complete Roman Army, by Adrian Goldsworthy
Osprey's The Landsknechts, by Douglas Miller

I also received a complete harness, though, as you can see in the upper left section of the attached photo, it is somewhat smaller than I had hoped! :lol:

In some shopping opportunities, I found two inexpensive, used books while visiting Harpers Ferry, West Virginia: The Ancient Romans, by Chester G. Starr, and Romans Without Laurels, by Indro Montanelli.

On the way home, we had reason to detour through the Atlanta, Georgia area. I stopped at Museum Replicas, Ltd., and found one of their long-discontinued Scottish Burgonets on display, and for sale at a very reasonable price. It turns out that MRL has more of these helms (I don’t know how many) in stock on clearance, if anyone else is interested in purchasing one of them.

I wonder what interesting things other forumites have obtained this holiday season?

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Steve, you will love "Shiney Shapes"! Dynamite pics, they make it worth the price alone. Did you get the English translation or the German?

Hello all!

Steve Grisetti wrote:

I wonder what interesting things other forumites have obtained this holiday season?

I, too, got a book or two for the holiday. A few are on order; I took advantage of some after-holiday sales.

For the holiday, I received Ancient Weapons in Britain by Logan Thompson. I have not had a chance to read it yet, but I thumbed through it, and I was impressed by the illustrations. There are some really nice Saxon swords illustrated in Thompson's work that I have not seen before. It's supposed to be fairly new scholarship by someone who has apparently spent years studying the subject. Thompson covers the period from prehistory up to and including the Hasting's campaign, with an emphasis on the Germans, Vikings, and Anglo-Saxons. The chapter on "Germanic Ancillary Weapons" includes an interesting section on
scramasaxes. I don't know how reliable the text is, but the pictures are wonderful.

I have Battles of the Dark Ages, Agincourt by Anne Curry, and Knights of Malta on order. I've heard a lot of buzz regarding the Anne Curry book here on the forum, so I thought I had better read it.

I also managed to snag a pair of rivetting pliers and a package of mail links and rivets from Forth Armoury. I bought some links about a year or so ago, but I didn't manage to find the rivetting pliers back then (they were always out of stock everywhere I looked), so I have not had much of a chance to do anything with them. I want to make early-mid 14th century mail gauntlets, roughly based on examples seen on some German sculptures. If I have any mail left over, I might make a mail standard/pizaine.

So, anyone else receive books that they might recommend?

I have shelves of books I have got to get read, including "Agincourt" by Juliet Barker. Another very specialized book titled The Great Warbow or something like that, the books are downstairs and I am upstairs. :lol:
No acquisitions for me this holiday season, I want to continue to live a healthy life and not worry about my wife letting me have it upside the head with something :!: :eek: :lol: But in a couple of weeks I do have the Edward III Sword arriving, along with the book "In Service of the Duke" translated by Chrisian Henry Tobler. Both are quite a bit over due, but thus will provide for a couple of very bright spots in an otherwise dull drum January. I am as anxious for the one as I am for the other :!: This book "In Service of the Duke" is being limited to only 1,000 copies, it's leather bound and all done on a very expensive art paper, I was told by Chivalry Bookshelf that the proofs were spectacular so I am quite excited :!:
Steve, congratulations on a nice little haul there :)

WOW :!: I have managed to collect so many books and therefore have so much reading to get done that it is ridiculous! :lol:

Plenty to do for the winter!

Bob

I've managed to get my hands on Medieval Sword & Shield and Fighting With the German Longsword, both from Chivalry Bookshelf, as well as a copy of Talhoffer. Also, I have The Sword in the Age of Chivalry coming soon from Amazon. All in all, a productive holiday, though no actual pieces to add to my collection. The WMA books are really quite good; they're helpful and also make for interesting reading. I have high hopes for Oakeshott's work once it arrives!

Happy New Year!
Max

I actually feel like I've been failing to live up to my obligations.

I have acquired nothing related to this hobby over th holidays.

This being the first year I have been this deeply involved in western swords and martial arts, I had an abundance of goodies come my way. My parents funded the purchase of a used Atrim DD1501 Danish bastard sword. I also received 3 books:

Fighting with the German Longsword
by Christian Henry Tobler

Sigmund Ringeck's Knightly Art of the Longsword
by David Lindholm, Peter Svard

The Martial Arts of Renaissance Europe
by Sydney Anglo

I have been reading the latter book and find parts of it to be fascinating. I look forward to reading the others soon and perhaps starting to learn how to move a sword about in an intelligent fashion :)

Best wishes to you all in the new year!

Well I bought Arms & Armour of the Crusading Era 1050 - 1350 by David Nicolle from Chad Arnow but I do have my
Custom Langue de Boeuf that is almost finished. ( Craig sent me some pics and should be sending some other pics of it soon in high resolution: I will put these together in a montage and zoom in to details and post them soon. Waiting so that I can make it more interesting than one low resolution pic. )

I guess I could also count ordering a Geodendag from A & A as a Xmas purchase even if I won't have it for a while.

I may have to slow down buying for a while until I find out how expensive some expected / dreaded dental work will cost me in 2007. ( A few implants to replace some shaky teeth ........ Hey, you guys FLOSS every day if you want to avoid loosing perfectly good teeth when your gums and jaw bone quit on you ! :p :lol: )

Steve nice pics of the books and Burgonets. I assume your full harness is the figurine ? Lots of luck putting that on ! I guess a really serious diet getting you down to 6 oz. might work. :p :lol:

I was lucky enough to receive a neat book called The Medieval Fortress: Castles, Forts and Walled Cities of the Middle Ages, which seems to have quite a bit of cool info about a ton of castles throughout Europe and the Holy Land.

My sister also gave me the great gift of a homemade Albion swords gift certificate. She printed in up herself and told me to ask whenever I need it...I was pretty excited about that, although it may yet be a long time before I can come up with enough of my own money to use it.

All in all I had a great Christmas, and hope everyone else had a good one too.

Kenton

I'll be getiing the new Churburg book.

Happy new year! :D

Aaron

I expanded my collection with a few new pieces this cristmas as a present for myself.
I havent had the time to taking proper fotos so these snapshots are the best I have.

From top to bottom

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Unknown maker ? Help me Identify the blade
Phoenix metal creations
Phoenix metal creations
Pavel Moc
Jody Samson
Unknown maker ? Help me Identify the blade
Angus Trim

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Pavel Moc
Angus Trim
Jody Samson
Phoenix metal creations
Phoenix metal creations
Unknown maker ? Help me Identify the blade
Unknown maker ? Help me Identify the blade

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kewlness.

i got the deepeeka 3rdc spatha, MRL spear, fantasy axe for weapons
and for books i got The Great Warbow: From Hastings to the Mary Rose, Swords and Hilt Weapons by Connolly, Peter, Roman Legions by H. M. D. Parker, Imperium Legions, Barbarians and Romans, A.D. 418-584 [Paperback] by Goffart, Roman Military Equipment: From The Punic Wars To The Fall Of Rome, and Weapons of the Romans
by Michael Feugere

hey steve, you were in Harpers Ferry? you were only about 2 hours from me :) i passed thru that area a few days before Christmas to goto my mother in laws. which book store did you go to that had good stuff?

Hi Jessen

That last blades makers mark (a dragon), and hammer finish, appears to be that of Randal Graham, Dragon Fist Forge.

Mac

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While strictly aquired shortly before christmas, I just got my new sparring sword!



The blade is a 76cm long, 3,8cm to 1,9 cm Armour Class blade, as seen on their Medevial swords ,which have become pretty much "standard issue" in our group, due to good handling and sturdyness. They are technically Type XI, for weight reduction reasons. My blade has been ground down from the standard even 3mm to 3-2mm tapper.

The hilt and fittings are donne by Øvind Ottnes, a local craftsman. The Pommel is a Oakeshott type I, the crossguard Style 4. The grip is leather with silver finals. The point of balance is 10 cm in front of the cross.
Overall weight; 770g
(the standard AC weighs 1010.)

Needless to say, I'm quite happy with my new aqusition. It even ligther than I imagined, while retaining a fair amount of blade pressence. If anything, it's to light, since a this well made sword could have a propper 13th century blade and still not be substially heavier than a sharp.

I have required this Roman Baeltus. Now I only have the shoes left... and the hasta... and the Pugio...

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I was especially fortunate this Christmas. In the book department I recieved Records of the Medieval Sword, Medieval Military Costume, and Wheellock Firearms of the Royal Armouries. The Oakeshott book now forms the heart of my arms and armour library, naturally. I was blown away by the photos in MMC, what an awesome resource. The late 14th century harnesses with crested great helms are to die for. I also got a membership to the Frazier Arms Museum. The wheellock book is from the Frazier gift shop and has the most stunning firearms I have ever seen in it. You almost forget people killed each other with those guns when you see the level of artistry that goes into them. I also got a Strongblade Scottish dirk which I will return and put the money toward an A&A dagger. Finally, I got an order for a 1640's civilian coat and shirt from G. G. Godwin at http://gggodwin.com/index.html. I can't wait to recieve those clothes in February. My family and friends really outdid themselves with all those awesome gifts this year.

Happy Holidays
Shae