Reference: THE ARMS OF GREECE

[TVV]

Agreed

[ariel]

No argument from me :-)))

[kahnjar1]

I agree also....an absolute "must" for the library.
Stu

[mariusgmioc]

At least we all seem to agree on this one...

How boring...

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by mariusgmioc

At least we all seem to agree on this one...

How boring...

LOL!!!
Indeed
But here I gotta agree too. The works of Robert Elgood are an absolute must in any arms library. For me, his footnotes alone are a joy. These are 'browsing' books, beyond just being sound references.
The years of research he spent on this book are easily reflected in this volume, and if I recall, there was a big event in Athens as this was officially released.

[ariel]

I used to dream about a book of Persian arms and armor by Elgood.

But then I understood that it was a fruitless fantasy: Elgood is an ethnologist and an art historian deep in his heart. He thrives in multiethnic, multicultural, multireligious scenery with multiple variants of weapons, structural and artistic changes every 100 miles and every 50 years. Give him a pile of sabers with different handles, swords with blades of dazzling complexity, handles with convoluted religious motives and he will write a 500-page superb book that would read like old John Le Carre.

Persian weapons are beautiful, superbly crafted, but their patterns are terminally uniform and rigid: they achieved what they thought was "perfection" and stayed there. Compare an inexhaustible variety of Indian bladed weapons with the Persian panoply, consisting of shamshir, pesh kabz, khanjar and kard. That's it.

What could Elgood write about them? Twenty pages max.......

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by ariel

I used to dream about a book of Persian arms and armor by Elgood.

But then I understood that it was a fruitless fantasy: Elgood is an ethnologist and an art historian deep in his heart. He thrives in multiethnic, multicultural, multireligious scenery with multiple variants of weapons, structural and artistic changes every 100 miles and every 50 years. Give him a pile of sabers with different handles, swords with blades of dazzling complexity, handles with convoluted religious motives and he will write a 500-page superb book that would read like old John Le Carre.

Persian weapons are beautiful, superbly crafted, but their patterns are terminally uniform and rigid: they achieved what they thought was "perfection" and stayed there. Compare an inexhaustible variety of Indian bladed weapons with the Persian panoply, consisting of shamshir, pesh kabz, khanjar and kard. That's it.

What could Elgood write about them? Twenty pages max.......

But what a twenty six pages it would be!!!!!!

[mariusgmioc]

Originally Posted by ariel

I used to dream about a book of Persian arms and armor by Elgood.

...

Maybe you'll better stop dreaming and get "Arms and Armor from Iran" by Manoucher Moshtagh Khorasani... if you don't have it already.

[kahnjar1]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

LOL!!!
Indeed
But here I gotta agree too. The works of Robert Elgood are an absolute must in any arms library. For me, his footnotes alone are a joy. These are 'browsing' books, beyond just being sound references.
The years of research he spent on this book are easily reflected in this volume, and if I recall, there was a big event in Athens as this was officially released.

I agree with you Jim that Elgood's books are both browsing and reference books. I have a number of his works in my small library which from time to time are referred to, or just drooled over!....and of course, and maybe more importantly, the information contained therein is preserved for those who come after us when the present collectors are long passed.
Stu