Books on Arms and Armour - and a few related topics

The following is a selected list of insteresting books for armourers. All descriptions are my personal opinion, there may easily be other opinions of these books. This list is currently being updated, and I hope to continue to clean it up and add descriptions of the books.

If anyone has additional information on these or other books on armour I wold be happy to hear about it. If you have books that are available for sale, I am always trying to fill out my collection of books - send me a note.

Everyone should read Claude Bair's European Armour. If you are intrested in 15th century Italian armour you MUST have Mantova. If you want to know about mid 14th century armour check out Wisby.

Basically the study of armour is reading whatever you can - and learning what to ignore as incorrect, and collecting as many pictures as you can of real armour. If at all possible, you need to look at armour in person by visiting as many museums as you can. There just is no substitute for actually looking at the real thing. If you want to actually build armour it can help to discuss techniques with other armourers, but you should never just take someone else's work as an ideal to emulate. All armourers have their own idiosynchracies and habits that make their work different from others' and from the real thing. There are always improvements you can make to your work, and always new things to learn from looking at real (old, authentic) pieces.

General surveys of Arms and Armour

Blair, Claude. European armour circa 1066 to circa 1700. London : B.T. Batsford, 1958. 1st ed.

This is THE basic history of armour in Europe during the Middle Ages. It is somewhat incomplete, and could use additions from studies that have happened in the last 40 years, but it is still the text to read for a basic understanding of the subject. Anyone interested in armour should read and study this book. It is one of the only books that really is correct - it has omissions, but it is not wrong. Read this book, use the others for pictures of armour.

Stone, George Cameron. Glossary of the construction, decoration, and use of arms and armor in all countries and in all times. New York : Jack Brussel, Publisher, 1961.

This was one of the early texts. It has some good illustrations but it is mostly illustrating items from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and many of these have since been determined to be fakes or heavily restored. It contains a lot of non-european items. Most armourers I know have a copy of this book (it was easy to get in the '70s and early 80's) but it is used less and less as other books are obtained.

Edge, David and Paddock, John Miles. Arms & armor of the medieval knight: an illustrated history of weaponry in the Middle Ages. New York : Crown Publishers, 1988. 3 copies.

Wilkinson, Frederick. Arms and armour. London : Hamlyn, 1978.

Norman, Vesey. Arms and armor. New York : G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1964.

Norman, A.V.B. and Pottinger, Don. English weapons & warfare 449-1660. New York: Dorset Press, 1979.

Laking, Sir Guy Francis. Record of European armour and arms through seven centuries. London : C. Bell & sons, 1920. Vols. 1-5. xerox.

Boccia, Lionello G. et al. Armi e armature Lombarde. Milano: Electa Editrice, 1980. (boxed)

Thomas, Bruno et al. a cura di Lionello Giorgio Boccia. Armi e armature europee. Milano: Bramante editrice, 1974.

Boccia, L. G. & Coelho, E.T. L'arte dell'armatura in Italia. Milano: Bramante, 1967. 1 of the first 100 unnumbered copies. Signed by both authors!

Rossi, Francesco. Mediaeval arms and armour. Bergamo: Lucchetti Editore, 1990.

Reverseau, Jean-Pierre. Musee de l'arme Paris: les armes et la vie. Paris : Dargaud, 1982.

Bull, Stephen. Historical guide to arms & armor. New York: Facts on File, 1991.

Thomas, Bruno, Gamber, Ortwin and Shedelmann, hans. Arms and Armour of the Western World. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964.

Tarassuk, Leonid and Blair, Claude. Complete encyclopedia of arms & weapons: the most comprehensive reference work ever published on arms and armor with over 1,200 illustrations. New York: Crown, 1982.

Byam, Michele. Arms & armor. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1988.

Ffoulkes, Charles. Armourer and his craft from the XIth to the XVIth century. New York: Benjamin Bloom, 1967.

Ffoulkes, Charles. Armour & weapons with a preface by Viscount Dillon. Yorkshire, England: EP Publishing, 1973.

Catalogs of museums and special exhibitions.

Dufty, Arthur Richard. European armour in the Tower of London. London : HMSO, 1968.

This is a very good photographic survey of the armour held in the Tower of Londeon (back when there was armour in the Tower of London, but that is another story). There is a little text at the front of the book describing the collection, but mainly it is LOTs of pictures. This book is getting to be difficult to find, but worth it especially if you are interested in 16th century items.

Ortiz, Antonio Dominguez et al. Resplendence of the Spanish monarchy: Renaissance tapestries and armor from the Patrimonio Nacional. New York : Metropolitan Museum of Art ; distributed by H. Abrams, 1991.

Nickel, Helmut et al. Art of chivalry: European arms and armor from The Metrolpolitan Museum of Art. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1982.

Bulletin (Metropolitan Museum of Art) ; v. 32, no. 4 1973/1974.

Bertolotto, Claudio et al., Mazzini, Franco (ed.) L'armeria reale di Torino. Bramante editrice, 1982. No. 1362 of 2100. Boxed.

Krenn, Peter and Karcheski, Walter J. Imperial Austria: treasures of art, arms & armor from the state of Styria. Munich: Prestel-Verlag, 1992.

This is a catalog of the traveling exhibit from the travelling show that was put together from the amazing collection held in the arsenal in Gratz Austria. This arsenal has survived intact since the 17th century so it contains a wide range of items of many different qualities. If you ever wanted to see hundreds of similar pieces of armour - many of them nailed to the ceiling rafters, you just have to see this place.

Das Wiener Burgerliche Zeughaus: Rustungen und Waffen aus funf Jahrhunderten von den Landern Wien und Niederosterreich gemeinsam veranstaltet Ausstellung im Schloss Schallaburg bei Melk. 49. Sonderausstellung des Historischen Museums der Stadt Wien 14. Mai bis 30. Oktober 1977. Wien: Museeum der Stadt Wien, 1977?

Boccia, Lionello G. Armature di S. Maria delle Grazie di Curtatone di Mantova e l'armatura Lombarda del '400. Milano: Bramante, 1982.

If you are interested in 15th century italian armour, you must have this book. It includes a survey of most of the surviving examples of 15th century italian armour and then moves onto a detailed study of the pieces of armour found the a church in italy. This is about the best resource you will find - it includes separate photographs of each part of each of the armours.

Reverseau, Jean-Pierre. Armures des Rois de France au Musee de l'Armee. Editions F.P. Lobies. Societe nouvelle des Presses Saltusiennes, 1982.

Blair, Claude et al. Studies in European arms and armor: the Otto von Kienbusch Collection in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of ARt distributed by the Univ. of Penn Press, 1992.

Thordeman, Bengt. Armour from the battle of Wisby, 1361. Stockholm : Kungl. Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akademien, 1939. 2v. vol. 1 Text -- vol. 2 Plates.

Norman, A.V.B. and Wilson, G.M. (compilers) Treasures from the Tower of London. Norwich: Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Univ. of East Anglia. 1982. 2 copies, 1 hardcover, 1 pbk.

Mann, Sir James. European arms and armour: text with historical notes and illustrations. Wallace Collection Catalogues. London: printed for the trustees by W. Clowes and sons, 1962. 2 copies of the 2 vol. set. vol. 1 Armour -- vol. 2 Arms.

Norman, A.V.B. European arms and armour, supplement. Wallace Collection Catalogues. London: Printed for the Trustees by Balding + Mansell, 1986. 2 copies.

Trapp, Oswald. Armoury of the Castle of Churburg; by Oswald Graf Trapp translated with a preface by James Gow Mann. London: Methuen & Co., 1929.

The Armoury of the Castle Churburg. Trapp, Oswald Graf and Scalini, Mario. two volumes. Volume 1 anastatic reprint of the 1929 edition in English. Volume 2 updated catalog with text in Italian, German and English.

Art of Chivalry: European arms and armor from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. (exhibition guide) Detroit Institute of ARts, April 4- June 17, 1984.

Das Steiermarkische Landeszeughaus in Graz: eine Ubersicht uber seine Geschichte und seine Waffen. Text von Peter Krenn. 2. verbesserte Aufl. Graz:Landeszeughaus, 1978.

Tarassuk, Leonid. Italian armor for princely courts: renaissance armor from the Trupin Family Trust and the George F. Harding Collection, the Art Institute of Chicago. Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1986.

Tiroler Landesmuseum. Die Innsbrucker Plattnerkunst vom 26. Juni bis 30 September 1954: Katalog. Innsbruck: Tiroler Landesmuseum, 1954.

Weapons

Oakeshott, R. Ewart. The Sword in the Age of Chivalry. Lutterworth Press : London. 1964.

Blair, Claude. European & American arms, c. 1100-1850. New York : Bonanza Books, 1962.

Dufty, Arthur Richard. European Swords and Daggers in the Tower of London. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office 1974.

Schneider, Hugo. Waffen im Schweizerischen Landemuseum : Griffwaffen 1. Zurich : Orell Fussli Verlag, 1980. Boxed.

Pecchioli, Arrigo. Armi bianche. Roma: Editalia, 1983.(boxed set)

Williams, A.R. Technical note on some of the armour of King Henry VIII and his contemporaries. Oxford: Printed by Eric Buckley for the Societyo f Antiquaries of London, 1979.

Grancsay, Stephen V. Arms & armor: essays by Stephen V. Grancsay from the Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 1920-1964. New York: the Museum, 1986.

Boccia, Lionello G. & Coelho, Eduardo T. Armi bianche italiane. Milano: Bramante, 1975. Boxed.

Some Cool related books

Grew, Francis and de Neergaard, Margrethe. Shoes and pattens. In the series: Medieval finds from excavations in London. London: HMSO, 1988.

Cowgill, J. et al. Knives and scabbards. In the series: Medieval finds from excavations in London. London: HMSO, 1987.

London Museum Medieval catalogue 1940. Suffolk : Anglia Publishing with the permission of the Museum of London, 1993.

Davenport, Millia. Book of Costume: vol. 1. New York: Crown publishers, 1948. 3rd printing.

Cockerell, Sidney. Old Testament Miniatures, New York: George Braziller, 1975(?).

This is a book that reproduces in full color all of the surviving pictures from a 13th century old testament. It is both a beautiful example of illustration and (when we get to the war scenes) a great resource for 13th century armour and weapons.

Romance of Alexander: a collotype facsimile of Ms. Bodley 264; with an introduction by M.R. James. Oxford: Clarendon press, 1933.

Clayton, Muriel. Catalogue of rubbings of brasses and incised slabs. Victoria and Albert Museum. London : HMSO, 1968.

Misc.

Pfaffenbichler, Matthias. Armourers. In the Medieval craftsmen series. Toronto: Univ. of Toronto Press, 1992.

Flax, Brian D. (ed.) Best of The Hammer, vol. 1. Albuquerque, NM: Raymond's Quiet Press, c1983. originally from issues 1-9 of The Hammer.

The Hammer was the only semi-normally published newsletter for SCA armourers. It was published many years ago for the Middle Kingdom Armourer's Guild. It has some interesting things in it and some good basic ideas. It is sadly dated.