Old Sword Play: Techniques of the Great Masters

by Alfred Hutton

Anyone interested in historical weapons or the art of fencing will want to own this classic study of swordsmanship in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries. Written in the late nineteenth century by a British officer, antiquarian, and noted scholar of the sword, the work was intended to provide military men with essential training in the art and science of fencing.
Drawing upon the methods used by master swordsmen over three centuries, Hutton presented the tactics of the ancient masters in a form comprehensible to swordsmen of his own day. His extensive, detailed instructions cover the use of the two-hand sword, rapier and dagger, broadsword and buckler, rapier and cloak, and dagger and cloak.
Complemented by nearly 60 illustrations, including instructive diagrams and rare woodcuts of classic fencing positions, this excellent introduction and its valuable information will be welcomed by scholars, theatrical directors, and sword-play enthusiasts alike. The book will also appeal to general audiences and anyone interested in an ancient form of self-defense still regarded by many as an art form and recreational pursuit.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Martial Arts, Reference

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 4, 2002

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can be a bit of a tricky read for someone without any background in fencing, as there is a lot of terminology, and many of those terms are in French or some other language. However, it does have illustrations, so that does help.

[Artur · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm little conflicted about it. I simply love the idea. I love that the author have reaserched so many sources to be able to write this book.

When it comes to the content it's sometimes seams unnecessarily hard to understand. E. G. It describes 6 different cuts and refers to them by numbers without explaining which number comes from which direction. You can still figure it all out, but it requires a lot of cross referencing and some pre-knowledge about directions of parry.

My second problem with this book is that it's surprisingly basic. Sure, in one chapter it describes 6 different cuts and 6 different parries, but the ONLY difference between them is the direction. The direction is important for fencers for sure, but it's also very obvious that if you want to parry a cut to your upper left you will need to move your sword to your upper left. It describes some very few complex contra parries, but even they are kind of odd. "If you opponent turns his back to you, then you move in, grab and threaten him"... Well thank you very much captain obvious!

On the other hand, I feel very bad for being so harsh on the writer. It's really not his fault that his historical sources are lacking depth. I maybe just had to big expectations.

[Alexia Allagreen · Rating 3 out of 5]

outdated in terms of stage combat but still a good read

[Benjaminxjackson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting book because it offered some history about fencing and sword fighting and because it made me think about the different ways that people combined various weapons.

Much of the book was taken up with full page illustrations of various positions. It took some thinking to work out how some of the moves were actually done, though I wish I had my fencing buddies around to try out some of these techniques.

That said, this book covers techniques, not systems of sword fighting. So, there is not a description of a complete method of using your sword. That said, it would make an excellent jumping off point for understanding some of the systems that were once used.

As for the book’s limitation, it was originally written in 1892, so there were limitations on book printing and publishing. My guess is that this accounts for the limited illustrations and short length of the work.

Still, I would recommend this to fencers who have some sense of the romance of the sport and to people who have an interest in the ways that sword fighting has changed through the centuries.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting look at old sword fighting techniques from one of the first scholars of western martial arts. Hutton was a swordsman when the sword was at its end as a military weapon. Hutton was a serious scholar of the sword, and the originator of the first historical fencing revival. This book presents a distillation of the work of some of the fencing masters in earlier centuries. It does not go into the history at all, but rather focuses on the techniques themselves. It is an excellent and interesting read for scholars of swordplay, but probably not of interest to anyone else.

[Redsteve · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting, but it seems to assume a lot of prior knowledge.

[Mark Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book to get a better understanding of sword-fighting to enhance those scenes in my story, definitely helped and would be an excellent resource for anyone interested in fencing.