The Big Book on Fencing - by Rudy Volkmann

by SwordMasters

Product Description

Magnum Libre d'Escrime "You can’t learn to fence from a book, but you can learn significant things about fencing." Written for the average American fencer, this 271-page text has gotten "must buy" reviews from the British and Dutch fencing federations as well as by current president of the American Fencing Coaches Association (the USFA does not review fencing texts). Included are sections on history, pedagogy, tactics, directing, repair (Dr. Volkmann’s celebrated repair manual is one of the sections), and the plans for a fencing dummy. The main part of the text, though, is a highly illustrated encyclopedia of all the moves used in foil fencing, which includes the theories behind the moves and positions, and detailed explanations of what goes wrong when trying to learn them. Just the section on stance, advance, retreat, lunge, and recovery types take over thirty detailed pages

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• ASIN: B0006JLLGC
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #85,792 in Sports & Outdoors (See Top 100 in Sports & Outdoors)
  • #17 in Sports & Outdoors > Other Sports > Fencing

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great text!, July 7, 2005

By 

Mark Pollock "educator" (Davis, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Big Book on Fencing - by Rudy Volkmann (Misc.)

AS I said, this is a great text, though it could use a good rewrite for clarity and ease of reading.

While the text is great, the pictures are almost univerally shoddy. They are hard to see, and simply not printed well. That is due to this being published as a xeroxed book, not as a printed book. This is a good way to print a small-run book such as this, but the illustrations really suffer.

Regardless, the section on repair is worth the price of admission alone, and the discussion of the various stances and parries is superb. I can still recommend this book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good armory reference, January 25, 2007

By 

Dixie (North Carolina, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Big Book on Fencing - by Rudy Volkmann (Misc.)

Mr. Volkmann does a good job of trying to explain the basics of fencing in this text. I do find it a bit disorganized at times, the parts on epee and sabre fencing are interspersed and hidden within the general foil sections. The use of french rather than english terminology can also lead one to confusion. It is a small-run book, crudely printed and bound, which takes away from its real strong suit as an armory reference. This book's best content is its detailed wiring diagrams and schematics. It even includes a plan for building a fencing dummy. Worth having in your library for that alone.