Customer Reviews

The Bartitsu Compendium, Volume 1: History and the Canonical Syllabus

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Bartitsu is an all but forgotten martial art that was developed in England in 1899 by E.W. Barton-Wright. Bartitsu as developed by Barton-Wright is essentially cross training between Japanese Jujitsu, French Savate, English Boxing, Vigny style stick fighting and Swiss wrestling. It was all the rage between 1900 and 1905 in the upper crust of London society and the Bartitsu Club was a place to be seen.

Bartitsu was all but forgotten by 1920.

If it had not been for A. Conon Doyle having Sherlock Holmes mention "baritsu" in his stories, Bartitsu would probably have been forgotten altogether.

Volume 1 of the compendium is an information resource about the origins of Bartitsu, the discipline itself, how it was originally practiced, and why it was necessacery for "a gentleman" to develop such skills.

Hats off to Tony Wolf and The Bartitsu Society!

Not only have they documented Bartitsu, but they have aroused enought interest in Bartitsu for it to have started making a comeback!

Tony Wolf's compendium is in a word 'fabulous'. The book captures the feel of Victorian self-defense and in great detail, with many first-hand accounts and newspaper articles as well as photos, explains the origins, methodology and history of Bartitsu, a mixed-martial arts brought to Victorian England by Edmond Barton Wright.

Volume I is mostly a history lesson, of great value, while volume II covers specific techniques, and parlor tricks!

For anyone interested in Victorian-era self-defense, this book, and its successor, volume II are an absolute must-have!