The Book of the Sword: With 293 Illustrations

by Richard Francis Burton

"The history of the sword is the history of humanity." With these words, British author, Victorian scholar, and world traveler Richard Burton begins his eloquent and exceptionally erudite history of the "Queen of Weapons."
Spanning the centuries and a wide range of cultures, Burton's rich and elegant prose illuminates the sword as both armament and potent symbol. For nearly all peoples of the world, the sword embodied the spirit of chivalry, symbolized justice and martyrdom and represented courage and freedom. In battle, it served universally as a deadly offensive weapon.
Drawing on a wealth of literary, archaeological, anthropological, linguistic, and other sources, the author traces the sword's origins, from its birth as a charred and sharpened stick, through its diverse stages of development, to its full growth in the early Roman Empire. Recounting man's long association with this weapon, the author describes in brilliant detail:
• The ages of wood, bone and born
• The appearance of stone swords and exotic weapons such as the boomerang
• The ages of copper and alloys such as bronze and brass — used in producing the long, narrow blades of rapiers
• The Iron Age during which the Viking sword of carbonized iron took shape — a weapon whose form would set the standard for the next thousand years.
Enhanced by nearly 300 excellent line drawings, the text provides an incredible wealth of detailed data about the sword and its variations: sabre, broadsword, cutlass, scimitar, rapier, foil, and a host of other arms, including dirks, daggers, throwing knives, flails, and much more.
Military and social historians, scholars and students of weaponry, as well as armchair adventurers will find this volume a fascinating, abundantly illustrated and highly readable account of this potent symbol of power.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, War, Martial Arts, Military History, Reference, Ebooks

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1884

About the author

Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton KCMG FRGS was a British geographer, explorer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, cartographer, ethnologist, spy, linguist, poet, fencer and diplomat. He was known for his travels and explorations within Asia, Africa and the Americas as well as his extraordinary knowledge of languages and cultures. According to one count, he spoke 29 European, Asian, and African languages.

Burton's best-known achievements include travelling in disguise to Mecca, an unexpurgated translation of One Thousand and One Nights (also commonly called The Arabian Nights in English after Andrew Lang's adaptation), bringing the Kama Sutra to publication in English, and journeying with John Hanning Speke as the first Europeans led by Africa's greatest explorer guide, Sidi Mubarak Bombay, utilizing route information by Indian and Omani merchants who traded in the region, to visit the Great Lakes of Africa in search of the source of the Nile. Burton extensively criticized colonial policies (to the detriment of his career) in his works and letters. He was a prolific and erudite author and wrote numerous books and scholarly articles about subjects including human behaviour, travel, falconry, fencing, sexual practices, and ethnography. A unique feature of his books is the copious footnotes and appendices containing remarkable observations and unexpurgated information.

He was a captain in the army of the East India Company serving in India (and later, briefly, in the Crimean War). Following this he was engaged by the Royal Geographical Society to explore the east coast of Africa and led an expedition guided by the locals and was the first European to see Lake Tanganyika. In later life he served as British consul in Fernando Po, Santos, Damascus and, finally, Trieste. He was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and was awarded a knighthood (KCMG) in 1886.

Reviews

[Miroku Nemeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did my thesis for my second MA in English Lit. on Burton (over a decade ago), so, in many ways, I appreciate his writing--which is, well, very erudite, opinionated, and often pedantic in the extreme. This is not a straightforward narrative, a comprehensive text on swords or swordsmanship, or quite like anything you ever have read before if you are not used to Burton’s truly “unique” style. It is claimed that Burton knew 29 languages, and this is probably true. He was an amazing linguist and real scholar, among his many other talents and adventures. It is hard to say you have fully “read” this book unless you have a working knowledge of Latin, Greek, French, Chinese, Sanskrit, Urdu, Arabic (I can claim this with Arabic at least), Farsi, and sundry other languages that he leaves in the original script and untranslated. I have read many of Burton’s books, and had put off reading this for years because it looked very ponderous and convoluted as a text. And it is. I had a bit of hope that it would be interesting nonetheless once you unlock all of that a bit, as he was one of the greatest swordsmen of Europe and this is a topic close to his heart. As Rice writes in his important biography on Burton, “His mastery of the sword became legendary not only among the English but also among the French…..”
If Burton's pedantry (or erudition--but it isn't easy reading either way) doesn't break you, there is a lot to learn in this book, though I am more concerned with the use of weapons than their historical metallurgical composition. Learned and pedantic in the extreme, Burton is most interesting when he actually talks about weapons and their usage, which is a relatively small portion of the book. He very much favors European swordmaking over Japanese, etc., and I find this refreshing, considering how Europeans and Americans lost the knowledge of their own martial arts and let Asian martial arts styles dominate their consciousness. This said, Burton is very thorough in his exploration of the swords of other cultures around the globe, and weighs the relative merits of the weapons objectively. In fact, chapter VIII "The Sword in Ancient Egypt and in Modern Africa" attributes the earliest origins of man, the alphabet, literature, the law, art, science, civilization, and the sword, not to Asia, much less Greece, but to Egypt and the Egyptians, when asserts "the ancient Egyptians were Africans, and pure Africans...." (144). Honestly, this chapter sounds absolutely "Afro-centrist" in many ways, which is something no one would ever accuse Burton of being. He also conceives of a much larger "Misr" than is normally thought--extending more broadly and deeply across Africa and to the sources of the Nile.
Burton reasonably questions many narratives of history from the Greeks, who he calls "by virtue of her mighty intellect and her prepondering imagination, 'Graecia mendax.'" He blames these mendacious Greeks for many a lie that still stand in popularity today, such the Persians being led en masse by Xerxes himself to fight against them. "But the life of Hellas is one great "appropriation clause": the Greeks were doughty claimants, childish in their naivete of conceit; they were burglars of others' wits (convey, the wise it call), and they made themselves do all things."




Once you have finished with metallurgy, etc. and start discussing the sword proper (in chapter 7), and especially in his chapter on the Egyptian origin of the sword and, well, almost anything, it becomes very interesting. By the way, he remarks again and again on the efficacy of the stabbing sword over the cutting blade--something to ponder. Swords from every corner of the earth and even Sayyedina ‘Ali’s sword, Dhul-Fiqar are mentioned."
Burton says some cool things that you will probably not read anywhere else but still make a lot of sense, like his assertion that the “Anglo-Saxon” should be called the “Kelto-Scandanavian”.
He also makes some errors in the book, like asserting that samurai carried two equal length swords, while, of course, the katana and wakizashi are of differing sizes.
Not an easy read, but very interesting on many levels for the scope of history and truly cosmopolitan scholarship (some very much bound to the Victorian Age, but much of contemporary worth as well, for scholars like Burton are extremely rare).

If you are interested in Burton’s own fencing skills, there is a great narrative of a match against a sergeant of the French Hussars which can be found on page 167 of Rice.
http://books.google.com/books?id=TQ9K...

[Nadienne Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an incredibly detailed, in-depth look into the history and development of the sword in various parts of the globe which includes very detailed accounts of metallurgy, blacksmithery (yes, it's a word :) watch "Galavant"), cultural analysis, and comparative archaeology. Unfortunately, it's told from the mind of a 19th century Englishman, so everything is also tinged with racism, chauvinism, and ethno-centrism, and the author himself believes that swords are the only "civilized weapon"...it also reads like a text book, so it is very, very dry, and nearly every page is drowning in footnotes (literally occupying more than half of the page in some instances). But it is highly informative. And, I was quite taken aback by how enlightened the author seems at points. He readily acknowledges the origins of most myths and traces them back from culture to culture, including those stories told by early Jewish people - a very rational viewpoint coming from a 19th century person. It almost smacks as coming from an agnostic, if not outright atheist, individual.

I would almost say that a knowledge of French and Latin are also required to truly get the most out of this book (and maybe even a little Greek). The author will often quote French and Latin sources verbatim and does not translate said quotes. There are full paragraphs written in both languages...

It is a shame that the author passed away before completing parts 2 and 3, as his insights would have been most enlightening...as long as one can get past all of the cringe-worthy "others are savages" references.

[Nu Jahat Jabin · Rating 4 out of 5]

গত ২ বছর ধরেই বেশির ভাগ সময় আমি অতীতের স্মৃতি রোমান্থন করে কাটাই যে আগে কি সুন্দর বই পড়ে দিন কাটাইতাম।এই বছরের পড়া এক মাত্র নন ফিকশন, মাঝে ২টা নন ফিকশন ধরে (মৃতদেহ নিয়ে) মাঝপথেই ছেড়ে দিছি। ইসলামের ইতিহাসে অতি ফেমাস এক তরবারির নাম হল জুলফিকার, এই জুলফিকার নিয়ে পড়তে গিয়েই মূলত বইটার খোঁজ পেয়েছিলাম। পুরা বই জুড়ে জ্ঞান ঝড়ে ঝড়ে পড়তেছে সেই সাথে লেখকের রেসিস্ট মনোভাব। মাস খানেক আগে পড়ে জ্ঞান অর্জন করে সেই জ্ঞান আবার মাথা থেকে বের ও করে দিছি। বলার ভিতরে বই সম্পর্কে এই ২টা ইনফরমেশনই মনে আছে যে পুরো বই জুড়ে অসংখ্য ধরনের তরবারি ছোড়া আর তাদের ইতিহাস আর পার্টিকুলার সভ্যতার প্রতি লেখকের ভালবাসা।সত্য কথা বলতে পুরা বই ঝুড়ে জ্ঞান ঝড়ে ঝড়ে পড়তেছে। নন ফিকশন পড়তে চাইলে একটা ভাল বই, এর আগে পর্যন্ত আমার ধারনাওই ছিল তরবারি মানেই ধার আলা একটা লোহার ডান্ডা টাইপ কিছু। !!

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yeah, erudite history of the sword. Kind of skips sword development in Japan(although he does make some oblique references to Japanese swords). Burton writes about what he knows, but he shouldn't imply that his book is a comprehensive text. Book was written in the mid 19th century and you can really hear the incidental bigotry and parochialism in this pompous Brit's tone (like everyone else, he was a product of his time)which actually adds a kind of extra cultural layer of interest to the reading. It's still a good text.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

A classic work of hopology, which means most people will find it boring.

[Paul A · Rating 2 out of 5]

Burton is very much a product of his times, so know that going in - plenty of racialized commentary and generalizations about different ethnicities. The line drawings are detailed and interesting to look at, but his writing style is difficult to follow, considering how many tangents he goes off on, whether it's to go down a philological rabbit hole or discuss national mythologies. Happy to be finished with it, but I don't think I'll be picking it up again.

[Mark Seghers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another reason to wish Sir Richard's wife had not, upon his death, burned his writings. A wonderful read, mainly for the depth of the author's personal knowledge. If you've read any of Burton's other writings (his journey to find the source of the Nile, or his Hat, or his translation of 1,001 nights) you'll love this one.

[Seans Ridleys · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rite yorewn

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title does not lie, it is a book about the development of the sword. An even better title might be "Egypt is awesome and every other ancient culture was stupid." At times long-winded, convoluted, and blatantly racist and prejudiced against many cultures, there is still some interesting information (if you like edgy weapons) within its pages. The evolution of weapons structure is described in terms of materials, metallurgy, size, cross-sectional shape, physics of the fighting style of the time (e.g., penchant for slicing or thrusting attacks and defensive maneuvers). The numerous illustrations are wonderful. Unfortunately, Burton often really takes his time to get to the good bits about the weapons, spending pages setting up the historical context, but which reading now reveals the material as biased, outdated and potentially unreliable. Another downer is that there were supposed to be additional volumes; as a result this book ends prior to the start of the medieval period. So just as swords were just starting to resemble what I think of as swords, the book ends. You will have to look elsewhere to see sword development through the Medieval, Renaissance, and the Modern periods. Dang, and I had struggled so diligently through all that metallurgy stuff.

[Erin O'Quinn · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE BOOK OF THE SWORD by Sir Richard F. Burton is one of the most deservedly famous treatises on weaponry of the last 130 years. Burton himself was a worthy representative of the extraordinary Brits who lived during the reign of Queen Victoria. According to Wikipedia, he was--get this--an explorer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, cartographer, ethnologist, geographer, spy, linguist, poet, fencer and diplomat! A side note: as a translator of THE ARABIAN NIGHTS and the KAMA SUTRA, Burton was considered somewhat of an expert on sexual practices, in addition to many of his other areas of deep knowledge.

The book itself, replete with nearly 300 line drawings, is what he considered merely a first book, or an introduction, to the history of the sword. Written during a time when authors were extraordinary scholars, the book has taken a well deserved place in history as one of the most exhaustive treatments of the sword. History buffs and military historians too will relish the thorough treatment of swords and other weapons, from ancient times to the early Roman empire.

As an author of historical fantasy and historical romance, I have used this book several dozens of times in my writing. I highly recommend it as an encyclopaedic treasure trove. Erin O'Quinn author.

[Craig Herbertson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eloquence, erudition, exactitude - a book by a genius from an age where style, knowledge and passion combined to illuminate the darkness.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heeeelllooo nineteenth century Victorian racism!

The book also presupposes a significant knowledge of classical languages as well as myth and literature; it is not for the general reader.

[Robert Gaines · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite Burton book, but then, I have no interest in swords.