The Bowie Knife: Unsheathing an American Legend [Hardcover]

Norm Flayderman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2004

From Norm Flayderman, perhaps the best-known name in arms collecting, comes this exciting new book on the Bowie Knife. All we can say is "You will be astounded...It's great." The size and quality of this book make it a huge bargain. It is a deluxe edition, printed entirely in color, with hundreds of massive, professional photographs showing every detail of your favorite knives. As an added bonus, the photos also contain a countless selection of some of the best guns and swords that you will ever see - so while this is technically a knife book, it truly has something for everyone. For instance, there is a large chapter on Dueling in America, and the Civil War chapters are a book in and of themselves. This is simply a "must-buy" purchase for any collector of antique weaponry. You won't be disappointed. 512 pages, 9"x12", Hardcover.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Outstanding...Norm Flayderman is respected internationally...a monumental work which will remain as the standard reference for decades to come." -- The Gun Report, October 2, 2004

"WOW! The book is astounding...exquisitely composed photographs and delightfully written text...The Bowie Knife is an exemplary study." -- Man at Arms for the Gun Collector, December 1, 2004

Product Details

• Hardcover: 512 pages
• Publisher: Andrew Mowbray, Inc. Publishers (October 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 193146412X
• ISBN-13: 978-1931464123
• Product Dimensions: 11.9 x 9.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #409,427 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #42 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Antiques & Collectibles > Kitchenware
  • #69 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > How-to & Home Improvements > Power Tools

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Indigestible, June 21, 2009

By 

Bernard R. Levine (Eugene, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Bowie Knife: Unsheathing an American Legend (Hardcover)

There is a lot of good material in here, along with some questionable material - but what is desperately lacking is organization. It IS arranged into chapters, but they don't seem coherent. It is a great big album of STUFF, and it is left up to the poor reader to try to figure what the point of each item is, and what goes with what.

It does include a lot of pictures, but they have several problems, too.

- Most of the pictures include multiple items, both knives and props. It is ALWAYS a mistake to prop knife photos, unless the prop is directly associated with THAT PARTICULAR knife. That is almost never the case here. The result is that the random props set up false historical associations. And not only are the props irrelevant to the knives, the knives in group photos are often irrelevant to each other.

- The pictures are only of knives Mr. Flayderman owns or owned. While he does live at the center of the universe, there are 'several' knives that never made it into his orbit. So, as big as this book is, there are probably more types of bowies left out than included. And there is a fair number of non bowies included, merely because he happened to own them. Also many of the knives shown are nowhere near the best surviving examples of their types, in condition.

So... I figure it would take a really experienced person the best part of a year to sort it out. And the only efficient way to do it would be to buy TWO copies, cut off their bindings, cut up the pages into individual items, then "edit" it all into a coherent whole -- using a folio sized album, and leaving gaps for what is not there (which you could then fill in from other books, especially auction catalogs). Flayderman should have done this editing himself, or at least hired it done. [This is exactly what I did when upgrading the somewhat album-like Levine's Guide I into the highly organized LG-II.]

A beginner tackling this book would be even more confused than a new driver from rural Idaho renting a car at Logan Airport and trying to drive around rush hour Boston (Boston does not believe in street signs, and Mr Flayderman does not believe in breaking his text into sections with headers). Plus the beginner would not find any help separating fact from fable. Flayderman includes it all.

Plus his writing style reminds me of this Wikipedia quote about George Sala: His literary style, highly coloured, bombastic, egotistic, and full of turgid periphrases...

BRL... [author of Levine's Guide to Knives and Their Values, editions 1-4)

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A scholarly work on the American Bowie knife, February 25, 2006

By 

Laurence L. Stauch "Larry. S" (Fullerton, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Bowie Knife: Unsheathing an American Legend (Hardcover)

Many knife collectors will welcome this edition to their bookshelves. The high numbers of high quality knifemakers and eager customers in recent years has created a natural interest in the early beginnings of the uniquely American Bowie knife that needs to be satisfied. Mr.Flayderman has heard the calling and has delivered in abundance. There is something for everybody in this book. The quality of documentary evidence is commendable and I even liked the pictures but don't think of this as a coffee table book. There is more here than can be covered in this humble review. The owner of this edition will return to it again and again and will glean yet another glimpse of our American history when the country was young and wild. If knives are of interest to you this book will serve.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible Book!, April 4, 2009

By 

E. Baez "revenant" (Miami, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Bowie Knife: Unsheathing an American Legend (Hardcover)

This is the most incisive, complete and thorough history of everything that can be known about the much-storied bowie knife. It exhaustively examines its legendary origins, its lineage and its significance as a unique historical weapon. This book is superb in all departments, from its many stunningly rendered photographs of breathtakingly crafted cutlery, to its scholarly and authoritative exposition and analysis. The book also examines the bowie's history and its surrounding mysteries and legends with peerless erudition and insight. The end result is a superb and completely satisfying book. I acquired it two years ago and am still continually returning to its text and well-annotated photographs and prints. A classic.