Quite by chance, I recently tracked down a copy of Egerton Castle's Bibliographia Artis Dimicatoriae from a London antiquarian.

This particular copy was uniquely enhanced by the handwritten notes of an English collector, who was an active observer (if not participant) of the fencing book collector's scene from the 1880s until well into the 1930s.

(Unfortunately, it was no longer possible to determine the identity of this man: The bookplate had been scratched out, with all but the last letter "K" obliterated. Could it have been Pollock himself? A New Year's card dating from 1927, however, indicates that he must have been at least on corresponding terms with Archibald H. Corble.)

Wedged in the pages of this book were a dozen or so pages from the sales catalogs of several English book sellers, including the complete Catalogue of Rare Books of a Naval and Military Character and of Works Relating to Fencing, on sale at the establishment of Messrs. Ellis on Bond Street in 1927.

Three items caught my eye:

#73 Elder (W.), The Art of Defence. In which the several sorts of Guards, Passes, Encloses, and Disarmed etc. are represented by proper Figures with their respective Explications. Sold by G. Becket at the golden head in the old Bailey, n.d. [abt. 1690]. Oblong 4to, engraved title, and 24 plates of Fencing, half blue morocco gilt, RARE, [sold].

#74 Elder. The Art of Defence: another edition. Printed and Sold by John Marshall at the Bible in Grace Church-street London [n.d.]. Oblong 4to, engraved title and 24 plates (mounted throughout), half red morocco, £12 12s.

#75 Elder. The Art of Defence: another edition. Printed and Sold by H. Overton at the White Horse without Newgate London, [n.d.]. Oblong 4to, containing engraved title and 11 plates only, half morocco, £7 10s.

Three editions of the same title–none of which appears in any fencing bibliography.

But the book yielded another clue, a cut-out article from the Times Literary Supplement. The date is incomplete, October 21, with no year, only the internal evidence that it was published after 1923. Entitled "Notes on Sales: Books on Fencing and Duelling," it summarized the sale of the extensive fencing and duelling library of José Ramon Garcia Donnell at the Hotel Drouot in Paris. The over 950 entries included "quite a number" of works that were "unknown to previous bibliographers."

Pencil marks at the margins highlight a passage that throws some light on this title:

"The two editions, with different imprints, both undated, of 'The Art of Defence,' with plates engraved by W. Elder, appear to be the two books registered in 'The Term Catalogues' (Arber's reprint, iii., 141, 163) as published at 1s. 6d. and 3s. 6d. in June and September 1699; they now sold for 580fr. and 300fr. respectively."

William Elder, an engraver from Ireland, arrived in London after 1680 and specialized in portraits. The Art of Defence comprised a series of 24 sheets in a folio format. I was able to interest Rainer Köbelin in Munich in the search for particulars, who discovered one sheet of the series in his extensive collection–the illustration of a wigged gentleman with a smallsword, looking out at an arena featuring a pair of fencers.

The Köbelin archive yielded another clue... a letter from Pollock to Corble of June 30, 1926. Pollock appears to have been in possession of the Elder graphics, had them bound, and presented them to Corble later on. It might be safe to assume that a full set of Elder's prints is part of the Corble Collection at Leuwen, Belgium.

While it is certainly not rare that you happen on references to works on fencing and the art of defence that are not listed in the major bibliographies, Elder's work certainly provides a second (mainly iconographic) source in a period dominated by the various titles of Sir William Hope.