The Illuminated Fightbook - Royal Armouries Manuscript I.33 (Leather / fine binding)


Royal Armouries manuscript I.33, also known as the Tower Fechtbuch or the Walpurgis Manuscript, is the oldest known manual of swordsmanship in the western canon and one of the oldest in the world. It is a stunning and beautiful medieval document and one that is so famous it has become known by its shelf number - I.33. Dating from around 1310, I.33 is the Royal Armouries most treasured possession and we are delighted to be publishing the first full facsimile of this amazing document, complete with a new academic treatise by world renowned scholar Dr. Jeffrey Forgeng, with the two books presented in a bespoke solander box. Limited to 750 copies worldwide. The story of Royal Armouries manuscript 1.33 is remarkable. The earliest reference to the manuscript is in a pamphlet by one von Gunterrodt entitled De veris principiis artis dimicatoridae [On the True Foundations of the Art of Combat] published in 1579. He recognised the text as an uniquely ancient source and gave some insight into its history. " I came upon this book through Johannes Herbart of Wurzburg...he said he had found it in a Franconian monestry under the Margrave Albert." The Margrave Albert is the Hohenzzollern Margrave Albrecht Alcibaiades who spent the mid sixteenth century on a campaign of violence in Franconia. Herbart most likely acquired the book while sacking a monastry. The manuscript passed through several hands and then to the Dukes of Saxe-Gotha.It appears in descriptions of the Ducal holdings in the 18th,19th and 20th centuries before disappearing during the Second World War. it resurfaced at auction in 1950 when it was purchased by the Royal Armouries The manuscript comprises 32 parchment leaves of approximately 30 x 23 cm each richly illustrated, depicting a priest instructing a scholar and describing with text and verse a system of combat with the sword and buckler [a small round shield]. Beginning with a few remarks on the art and illustrations of the seven basic guards it then proceeds to depict some thirty eight combat sequences. The text is in Latin with some technical terms in German. The commentaries describe the action, discuss alternative options and offer general pointers to the budding swordsman. In fact there are more than thirty eight sequences as the alternative moves in the text expand the range of many of the set pieces. The illustrations are undoubtedly the most attractive feature of the manuscript. Offering a step by step account of the unfolding of each encounter. Clearly great care has gone into producing them and they strive and often succeed in illustrating the actual motion of the body in combat. There are at least four hands at work in the manuscript and Dr Forgeng's research identifies and separates them. It has also had notes and annotations added over the years, by Herbart and by his fencing pupil Frederick William the Administrator. At some point a coal from the fire has been allowed to burn a hole in the early pages and the damaged has been repaired. Later on some of the figures have had their outlines redrawn in a heavier ink and at some point in its history a child has attempted to colour in some of the shields and even add moustaches to some figures. All this patina and information will remain untouched during the restoration and will be reproduced in stunning detail in the facsimile. The Companion Volume Each copy of the manuscript will come complete with a companion volume containing a full transcription and translation of every page and a new introduction by Dr. Jeffrey L. Forgeng. Dr. Forgeng is the Paul S. Morgan Curator at the Higgins Armory Museum in Worchester, Massachusetts. He rediscovered the manuscript lying almost unknown in the Royal Armouries library at the Tower of London and set about translating it. He became the world's foremost authority on the manuscript and his original work published in 2003 sold out quickly and has been sought after ever since. He now adds nearly a decade of research to that original text. The companion volume will be 23 x 15 cm and limp sewn with a hard cover. The two volumes are designed to lay flat and with their matching pages open together to make it as easy as possible to match the transcription and translations and to interrogate the text. Both volumes will be packaged in a burgundy buckram covered solander box. The companion volume will sit in a recess beneath the facsimile copy and the spine of the solander will have a simple leather label with 1.33 gold blocked on it. The Royal Armouries Edition The Royal Armouries Edition will be limited to 600 numbered copies available on a first come first served basis. Each copy will cost GBP750 plus GBP25 delivery and packing within mainland UK. [Overseas delivery costs available on application] Each copy of the royal Armouries Edition comes complete with the companion volume and is packaged in a solander box. Each copy of I.33 will be fully leather bound by hand in a superior weight Nigerian goat skin, featuring raised bands over wood composite boards. The boards are especially made to have the look and feel of a traditionally binding without the associated problem of warping. The cover of the book will be embossed in gold with the figure of a swordsman taken from the manuscript, the spine embossed with I.33 and the logos of the Royal Armouries and Extraordinary Editions. The Exemplaries There will be just 26 lettered copies of the Exemplary Edition available for collectors and bibliophiles. The Exemplary Edition will be bound in a cover of folded veined vellum over quarter sawn oak boards. The cover will be hand tooled in gold and blind embossed with a fourteenth century design and with a figure taken from the manuscript. The spine embossing will be as the other editions. In addition, the companion volume will be quarter leather bound in calf over archival board covered in a heavyweight paper featuring a design from the original manuscript. The Exemplary Edition is limited to 26 lettered copies at GBP1500 available on a first come first served basis and including delivery within the mainland UK.

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Product Description

Royal Armouries manuscript I.33, also known as the Tower Fechtbuch or the Walpurgis Manuscript, is the oldest known manual of swordsmanship in the western canon and one of the oldest in the world. It is a stunning and beautiful medieval document and one that is so famous it has become known by its shelf number - I.33. Dating from around 1310, I.33 is the Royal Armouries most treasured possession and we are delighted to be publishing the first full facsimile of this amazing document, complete with a new academic treatise by world renowned scholar Dr. Jeffrey Forgeng, with the two books presented in a bespoke solander box. Limited to 750 copies worldwide. The story of Royal Armouries manuscript 1.33 is remarkable. The earliest reference to the manuscript is in a pamphlet by one von Gunterrodt entitled De veris principiis artis dimicatoridae [On the True Foundations of the Art of Combat] published in 1579. He recognised the text as an uniquely ancient source and gave some insight into its history. " I came upon this book through Johannes Herbart of Wurzburg...he said he had found it in a Franconian monestry under the Margrave Albert." The Margrave Albert is the Hohenzzollern Margrave Albrecht Alcibaiades who spent the mid sixteenth century on a campaign of violence in Franconia. Herbart most likely acquired the book while sacking a monastry. The manuscript passed through several hands and then to the Dukes of Saxe-Gotha.It appears in descriptions of the Ducal holdings in the 18th,19th and 20th centuries before disappearing during the Second World War. it resurfaced at auction in 1950 when it was purchased by the Royal Armouries The manuscript comprises 32 parchment leaves of approximately 30 x 23 cm each richly illustrated, depicting a priest instructing a scholar and describing with text and verse a system of combat with the sword and buckler [a small round shield]. Beginning with a few remarks on the art and illustrations of the seven basic guards it then proceeds to depict some thirty eight combat sequences. The text is in Latin with some technical terms in German. The commentaries describe the action, discuss alternative options and offer general pointers to the budding swordsman. In fact there are more than thirty eight sequences as the alternative moves in the text expand the range of many of the set pieces. The illustrations are undoubtedly the most attractive feature of the manuscript. Offering a step by step account of the unfolding of each encounter. Clearly great care has gone into producing them and they strive and often succeed in illustrating the actual motion of the body in combat. There are at least four hands at work in the manuscript and Dr Forgeng's research identifies and separates them. It has also had notes and annotations added over the years, by Herbart and by his fencing pupil Frederick William the Administrator. At some point a coal from the fire has been allowed to burn a hole in the early pages and the damaged has been repaired. Later on some of the figures have had their outlines redrawn in a heavier ink and at some point in its history a child has attempted to colour in some of the shields and even add moustaches to some figures. All this patina and information will remain untouched during the restoration and will be reproduced in stunning detail in the facsimile. The Companion Volume Each copy of the manuscript will come complete with a companion volume containing a full transcription and translation of every page and a new introduction by Dr. Jeffrey L. Forgeng. Dr. Forgeng is the Paul S. Morgan Curator at the Higgins Armory Museum in Worchester, Massachusetts. He rediscovered the manuscript lying almost unknown in the Royal Armouries library at the Tower of London and set about translating it. He became the world's foremost authority on the manuscript and his original work published in 2003 sold out quickly and has been sought after ever since. He now adds nearly a decade of research to that original text. The companion volume will be 23 x 15 cm and limp sewn with a hard cover. The two volumes are designed to lay flat and with their matching pages open together to make it as easy as possible to match the transcription and translations and to interrogate the text. Both volumes will be packaged in a burgundy buckram covered solander box. The companion volume will sit in a recess beneath the facsimile copy and the spine of the solander will have a simple leather label with 1.33 gold blocked on it. The Royal Armouries Edition The Royal Armouries Edition will be limited to 600 numbered copies available on a first come first served basis. Each copy will cost GBP750 plus GBP25 delivery and packing within mainland UK. [Overseas delivery costs available on application] Each copy of the royal Armouries Edition comes complete with the companion volume and is packaged in a solander box. Each copy of I.33 will be fully leather bound by hand in a superior weight Nigerian goat skin, featuring raised bands over wood composite boards. The boards are especially made to have the look and feel of a traditionally binding without the associated problem of warping. The cover of the book will be embossed in gold with the figure of a swordsman taken from the manuscript, the spine embossed with I.33 and the logos of the Royal Armouries and Extraordinary Editions. The Exemplaries There will be just 26 lettered copies of the Exemplary Edition available for collectors and bibliophiles. The Exemplary Edition will be bound in a cover of folded veined vellum over quarter sawn oak boards. The cover will be hand tooled in gold and blind embossed with a fourteenth century design and with a figure taken from the manuscript. The spine embossing will be as the other editions. In addition, the companion volume will be quarter leather bound in calf over archival board covered in a heavyweight paper featuring a design from the original manuscript. The Exemplary Edition is limited to 26 lettered copies at GBP1500 available on a first come first served basis and including delivery within the mainland UK.

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Product Details

General

Imprint

Extraordinary Editions Limited

Country of origin

United Kingdom

Release date

September 2012

Availability

We don't currently have any sources for this product. If you add this item to your wish list we will let you know when it becomes available.

Editors

Translators

Dimensions

310 x 245mm (L x W)

Format

Leather / fine binding

Volumes

2

Pages

70

ISBN-13

978-0-9573046-0-4

Barcode

9780957304604

Categories

LSN

0-9573046-0-9



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