Consulting Swordsman
I’m working on the latest instalment of The Swordsman’s Quick Guide, which will cover my foundational breathing exercises. The book is already out to my test readers who have kindly volunteered to wade through the sewage of extraneous verbiage and excessive punctuation in search of the faintest glimmer of useful text. My fellow writers will recognise that … Read more
Yesterday I went to visit my friend Peter Mustonen. He’s an arms dealer; but our kind of arms dealer: gorgeous antique swords, knives, guns, armour, shields; you name it, he has a delicious example. I spent some time playing with swords, you know, as one does. While I was there he mentioned finding a book … Read more
I have the enormous privilege of owning an original copy of Salvatore Fabris’s Sienza e Pratica d’Arme, printed in 1606. I bought it from Sr. Roberto Gotti, of Brescia, in 2014. It is in incredibly good condition, and an excellent, clean print. It is still in its original binding. The value of the book comes … Read more
Spring is in the air, the grass is pushing up under the snow, and books are making their way from my dusty hard drive and out into the world. Ok, in Finland, spring is nowhere to be seen. My kids are going ice-skating and everyone I know has a cold. Bear with me. I have … Read more
I am usually late to any party held on the internet, because I don’t go looking for stuff, and I am pretty cavalier about things like facebook. Which means, much to my chagrin, that I didn’t even hear about the MIGHTY WIKTENAUER Indiegogo campaign to raise funds for their vital work until after it was all … Read more
I love books, and swords, and books about swords. Especially old books about swords. Through a series of happy chances, I own an original copy of Salvator Fabris’ Scienza e Pratica d’Arme from 1606, a third edition of Achille Marozzo’s Arte dell’Armi from 1568, and a second edition of P.J.F. Girard’s Traité des Armes from 1740. “Bugger off you lucky sod”, you … Read more
Hello. Do you find yourself explaining the same thing over and over to various friends and colleagues? Wouldn’t it be easier to just explain it once, and then send the explanation to anyone who needs it? In my case, I tend to explain all sorts of things regarding swords, as teaching swordsmanship has been my … Read more
The crowdfunding campaign for my next book, Advanced Longsword, Form and Function is now live! Would you like to win free copies of the book, or commission an instalment of The Swordsman’s Quick Guide? For this campaign, which will only run for 30 days, I am running a competition for referrals. There are two categories: … Read more
I understand perfectionism. In some areas of my life, I can see every flaw in what I am doing, and so it feels like everything I do is not nearly good enough. Good enough for me, that is. But usually, it’s plenty good enough for accomplishing its goal. Let’s take a basic sword strike for … Read more
Last November I finally made a long-awaited pilgrimage to the antiquarian bookshop Collinge and Clark. They have by a long way the best collection of fencing treatises for sale in London; not one but two copies of Fabris, for instance. And the 1763 first edition (in French) of Domenico Angelo’s Ecole des Armes. I was … Read more