Need advice on a book

ariel · 4th December 2008, 03:41 AM

Michael C. German " A guide to Oriental daggers and swords"
Anybody knows this book? Any good?

RSWORD · 4th December 2008, 12:51 PM

It is more of a catalogue and it is small, only about 10-15 pages. German was, and still is, a dealer in England and this catalogue from the 60's illustrates, mostly via line drawings, examples of items sold from their store. If you have run across a copy, I wouldn't spend a large sum but if it is reasonable it is interesting to see some of the selection from those days but the drawings and the few pictures, do not show a lot of detail and there is not a lot of written summary.

ariel · 4th December 2008, 03:53 PM

Got it. Many thanks.
I saw it as being on sale .... :-) ( I am not discussing listed items!) for quite a bundle. Obviously, an external opinion was needed. I got the drift.

Jim McDougall · 4th December 2008, 09:56 PM

Hi Ariel,
Man, its been a long time since one of these has surfaced! Its kind of ironic though...if I'm not mistaken, this catalog was one of the sources for the North African caption on the BSY......eek! It seems I wrote to him back when I researching these (about 10 yrs or so)and he noted some of the ID's were not entirely correct, but I cant recall details specifically. Actually though, what references dont stand to have this characteristic as research goes on.

These were classic catalogues, and back in the day, were pretty much the resources at hand to identify weapons.....those old 'Museum of Historical Arms' catalogs are highly sought after still (I had piles of em long ago) as well as uh, fagan catalogues (always entertaining) and Flayderman's, Robert Abels, John Denner, and others which really bring back memories. The best of all were the Hales & Barrett catalogues in the 80's, there were three, and classic and very reliable references.
These are now history themselves!

All the best,
Jim

4th December 2008, 03:41 AM	#1
ariel Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 5,503	Need advice on a book Michael C. German " A guide to Oriental daggers and swords" Anybody knows this book? Any good?

4th December 2008, 12:51 PM	#2
RSWORD Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Greensboro, NC Posts: 1,086	It is more of a catalogue and it is small, only about 10-15 pages. German was, and still is, a dealer in England and this catalogue from the 60's illustrates, mostly via line drawings, examples of items sold from their store. If you have run across a copy, I wouldn't spend a large sum but if it is reasonable it is interesting to see some of the selection from those days but the drawings and the few pictures, do not show a lot of detail and there is not a lot of written summary.

4th December 2008, 03:53 PM	#3
ariel Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 5,503	Got it. Many thanks. I saw it as being on sale .... :-) ( I am not discussing listed items!) for quite a bundle. Obviously, an external opinion was needed. I got the drift.

4th December 2008, 09:56 PM	#4
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,192	Hi Ariel, Man, its been a long time since one of these has surfaced! Its kind of ironic though...if I'm not mistaken, this catalog was one of the sources for the North African caption on the BSY......eek! It seems I wrote to him back when I researching these (about 10 yrs or so)and he noted some of the ID's were not entirely correct, but I cant recall details specifically. Actually though, what references dont stand to have this characteristic as research goes on. These were classic catalogues, and back in the day, were pretty much the resources at hand to identify weapons.....those old 'Museum of Historical Arms' catalogs are highly sought after still (I had piles of em long ago) as well as uh, fagan catalogues (always entertaining) and Flayderman's, Robert Abels, John Denner, and others which really bring back memories. The best of all were the Hales & Barrett catalogues in the 80's, there were three, and classic and very reliable references. These are now history themselves! All the best, Jim