Customer Reviews

The Crossbow: Its Military and Sporting History, Construction and Use

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Any work on crossbows, or any work on the history of arms that includes crossbows will have this book in the bibliography. So if you're studying crossbows, the impact of crossbows on history and society, seige weapons, the evolution of projectile weapons, or any related topic, start here.

Section I, history; Arguably the weakest section of the book, as new manuscripts have turned up and reconstructive work has been done. Still, it is a solid foundation to the military and civil (and uncivil in the case of poaching) history of crossbows. There is also a discussion of the first firearms. Note also that most modern reconstructions cite original crossbows in museums and private collections, and this book.

Section II, construction and management of crossbows through the sixteenth century; wherein several crossbows from the eleventh century through the sixteenth century. Payne-Gallway meticulously details construction of the stock, lockwork, prod, string, and accessories. And he then gets into how to use the crossbows. This is an exhaustive discussion of all aspects of making and using the discussed crossbows, and provides more than enough detail to do this at home (although it lacks the caveats about "Don't do this at home, you'll put an eye out"). No kidding. Follow Payne-Gallway's directions, and you will have a serious crossbow, that could put a quarrel through an engine block.

Section III, construction and management of crossbows nineteenth and early twentieth century (and some odds and ends); This section gets into sporting crossbows as made and used prior to the development of fiberglass and composites. The odds and ends are the best part. A Chinese repeating crossbow, bullet shooting crossbows, and arrow throwing are some of the best parts of the book.

Section IV, seige engines; Heavy ordnance! Trebuchets, and catapults, and ballistas, oh my! These would make excellent directions for a model builder or someone with a grander vision.

In the addenda, there are more seige engines and a discussion of Turkish bows.

This is an inspirational book. Payne-Gallway details all manner of awesome toys for responsible adults, and provides a robust foundation for reseach into a wide range of topics.

This book is, however, not for people who are inclined to say "Watch this!", or can't be trusted to handle lethal impliments. Do not launch automobiles from a trebuchet without a safe impact area and emptying the gas tank. Crossbows were tools of war, and can kill. Kids; don't do this at home.

I loved this book. I've used it extensively in historical research and projects, and personally find it very engaging.

E.M. Van Court

This is by far the most complete history of the crossbow I've found. I strongly recommend this to any military or sporting history buff. It's a great read, and the illustrations are fantastic!

Skip the other books and choose this one. This book will give you a solid understanding of the crossbow and it's history. This book can be a wee bit dry, but it's technical drawings and solid information more than make up for that. If you have an interest in crossbows and/or in the the military history and applications of this fascinating weapon, well then this is the book for you!

The author of this book was clearly a very knowledgeable man on the subject of crossbows. I have a great interest in ancient weapons and consequently a large collection of books and videos. This is without a doubt one of the best books in my entire library. With a little side research I was able to confirm enough of the facts stated in the book to trust the author.

The only downside (and a very small one at that) is that the instructions on construction and care can be confusing to anyone who is not familiar with cordage, metal working, carving, or mechanics. This slight handicap can easily be overcome with a little research into the specified area. All in all a wonderful book for anything from historical reference to making or maintaining your own crossbow. I highly recomend this as a must have book for anybody interested in history or weaponry.

Within the 5 mins of browsing through the book I was hooked! I couldn't put this bad boy down even to go to the restroom! This IS a COMPLETED WORK! GET IT!

ask yourself this

Do I want to learn anything about crossbows? or everything?

If you answered yes to either of those, then this is the perfect book.

Originally I found this book in my local library. I really like it for history and a general idea of how crossbows were once made. This is not instructions for making crossbows. Really interesting for the technological historian.

Before purchasing this book, I already produced two "medieval" crossbows, with good effect... Especially second one, which was really nice - but full of little bugs that constantly arised!

This book gave me whole new mountain of useful information, tips and underlaying principles of old crossbows. Many detailed sketches and pictures are well described. Of course, I would not be fair not to mention information about siege weaponry, which is most concise and complete compared to all other sources (internet) that I have been able to search (although it is not primary focus of the book). Beautiful thing of all is that almost everything described in this book is tested through practice! Author actually made and played with all the "toys" described in his book.

Of course, no book is perfect, there are some misconceptions, especially regarding bows (it seems that author is slightly biased towards crossbows), so be careful about information given about them.

Generally, this book is a blessing for anyone who is engaged in reproduction of medieval and renaissance crossbows, and also of antic to medieval siege weaponry in up to pretty big scale.

Superb.