Customer Reviews

German Swords and Sword Makers: Edged Weapon Makers from the 14th to the 20th Centuries

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This is a book about German swordmakers. It contains very little information about swords in the technical sense, e.g. construction methods or design evolution. There is a listing of the swordmakers names, dates of swordmaking and family connections. There are many pictures of Solingen factories and other historical venues. There is a list of maker's marks which does not seem to be complete nor is it presented as such. There is not much in the way of pictures of swords showing types, characteristic designs, patterns or maker innovations. The photos are of questionable quality and most of the pictures are illustrations with little provenance. Some interesting information on which makers also exported to the U.S. is included. As is usual these days, there is no appendix or detailed Table of Contents. A good book for historians but not so good for the collector.

While written material information is excellant in this book, It lacks enough photographs to make it useful for a collector to successfully identify a sword he may have. Also it should have included French, British and German designs. Sorry but this book does not help me at all. The proof marks are availible almost everywhere else. Also to make this book better, it needs more pictures! Spread out the photographs thru the book insted of the "lump-sum" at the rear. Better books than this are out there.

This is a fair book. Overall it does provide history of German blade-smithing and lists most of the German sword marks. The book provides good facts, but lacks completeness of the sword manufacturers and is missing a number of sword-makers. The sword illustrations are terrible, the photos are very few and are of poor to average quality. The bibliography is absent and some facts are somewhat questionable. If you are a collector or dealer, like me, this book is OK at best. The author could have done a much better job.

I'm a swords-lover, and I found this to be the best, most complete and usefull book ever writen on the subject. If you like swords, it's history and development, you can not skip this one - it's the most amazing research ever done on german swords and it's makers. I'm very happy to have a copy of this fine and fascinating work. You'll be proud to buy one, too.