The first thing you will note about this book, even before you see any content, is just how beautifully it is produced - superb heavy quality glossy paper and even down to the, once common and now rare, silk page marker ribbon. It is most definitely a book that would look good on your bookshelf even if you didn’t like the content! However the content is quite excellent and fully lives up to the presentation - or perhaps that should be that the presentation fully lives up to a superb content?

Even if German sword fighting techniques are not your primary interest I would suggest that for many people this book is worth owning and consulting for the four hundred plus individuals illustrated in contemporary full colour showing styles and colours of clothing when the manuscript was produced.

All in all I would not hesitate in saying that this book would be a superb addition to the library of anyone interested in German soldiery of the first half of the sixteenth century. If you are interested in how to fight with a longsword or on horseback that’s a bonus but the books appeal and use goes far further.

Superb!

Stephen Ede-Borrett, The Pike and Shot Society

An astonishing account of how the way people fought in battle in the middle ages was originally compiled into an instruction manual in the early 1500s. Fascinating.

Books Monthly