Robert Hales: Islamic Arms and Armour

[digenis]

Just received the book. Some of the weapons pictured are amazing. Certainly a great reference book for the advanced or wealthy collector. Your average person is not likely to run into this kind of quality weapons. I have only briefly looked through it so no in depth book review. One negative I have noticed so far: mostly generic descriptions of geographic origins of Ottoman weapons and broad brushed dating ("nineteenth century"). Not being picky but a more precise dating would have been nice. In Ottoman arms there is a substantial difference on edged weapons manufactured early during what I call the "golden age" (1770-1840) and those made later. Overall a good reference book although not cheap.