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A Must-Read of Historical Combat Literature
Meister Hans Talhoffer is one of the pivotal figures of German sword arts. Steeped into traditions that are as well documented as they remain inaccessible to full comprehension, his art (and showmanship?) belongs to the few medieval systems that have survived not in one but a few manuscripts.
The 1467 Codex of what became known as Talhoffers Fechtbuch, probably the artistically accomplished in its execution, was first revived for reproduction and re-publication by the Viennese fencing master Gustav Hergsell, whose transcription and interpretation of the instructions may not have remained without vocal critics, but whose leather-bound 1887 editions (both self-published and, later that year, by Calve) still command prices of between $500 and $900 that are eagerly paid by collectors.
Mark Rector has exercised restraint and competence in his endeavor of making Talhoffer accessible to the Anglophone market. He places the manuscript into its appropriate cultural and combative context that has as much to offer to the history buff as it has to the combative practitioner. His work finds a well deserved place in the literary canon of combative arts source literature.
The quality of the production is solid and well worth the price. This books has earned an unconditional seal of approval! Go buy it now.
Author: Talhoffer, Hans and Rector, Mark (ed.)
Title: Medieval Combat: A Fifteenth-Century Illustrated manual of Swordfighting and Close-Quarter Combat, Greenhill Books/Lionel Leventhal, 2000; Hardcover - 304 pages; ISBN: 1853674184; US$23.96 at amazon.com
Hammerterz rating: HHHH
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