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LIVING LIBRARY
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Fencing & Swordmanship Books from myfoodcount.com
In the broadest possible sense, fencing is the art and science of armed combat involving cutting, stabbing or bludgeoning weapons directly manipulated by hand, rather than shot or thrown (in other words, swords, knives, pikes, bayonets, batons, clubs, and so on). In contemporary common usage, fencing tends to refer specifically to European schools of swordsmanship and to the modern Olympic sport that has evolved out of them.
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The Art and Science of Fencing
by Nick Evangelista
Often thought of as an activity just for actors or an elite few, fencing is actually an ideal sport for people of all ages. Fencing develops dexterity, endurance, flexibility, grace, and overall fitness, while also allowing participants the opportunity to hone the mind's problem-solving abilities. It is easily learned and practiced by both young and old, men and women, boys and girls. It has even been molded to fit the needs of the blind and individuals using wheelchairs. This is truly a sport for everyone. The Art and Science of Fencing covers everything from the history of the sport to the specifics of fencing technique, including the psychology of fencing, types of fencing weapons, biographies of great fencers, and information on selecting a fencing school and getting started in the sport. This book is a necessity for everyone who's ever seen an Errol Flynn movie and thought "Hey, that could be me!"
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Fencing: Techniques of Foil, Epee and Sabre
by Brian Pitman
Brian Pitmans book is an excellent, down to earth guide to Fencing, he cover the three weapons Foil, Epee and Saber that are used in Olympic style of fencing.
Some Fencing books are to much concerned with the history of Fencing and often teach old or even outdated styles, that may be interesting in itself but if you want to compete in modern fencing you need modern, practical down to earth kind of book and this is it, also if you just want to Fence for fun this book is great, after all most people who want to Fence do it for the joy of it and not to be historically correct and beautiful, you Fence in order to hit the opponent and prevent him from hitting you, of course good and fun Fencing can be beautiful and even though the traditionalist are always complaining about the look of modern Fencing you can see many examples of top Fencers today who are not only very good but also Fence beautifully.
In his book Brian begins, in part one, with the basic history of fencing the aim of the game the rules and conventions and some basic warm up exercices, part two is about the Foil and part three and four are about the Epee and the Sabre.
He covers the footwork the attacks and defences and the strategy of the game and the book is full of good advice about, not only how to get a good technique but also how to use it that technique in an efficient manner, in other words how to Fence well.
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Fencing and the Master
by Laszlo Szabo
Fencing and the Master is abeloved, unique classic tat distills the fencing wisdom of the twentieth century.
Of great and lasting value. -- Robert Scranton, President, USFCA The most complete book on the teaching and learning of fencing I have ever read. -- Dick Oles, Head Coach, Johns Hopkins. More great coaches have stolen ideas from this book than any other! George Edward Kolombatovich, Fencing Coach, Columbia University.
Szabo's book lays out the tools and techniques of coaching, but more than that, it opens up the heart and spirit of a maestro. Copiously illustrated. Supplemented with a discussion of fencing terminology and with a new memoir of Szabo by his student Eugene Hamori, Olympic medalist, US sabre champion, and distinguished coach.
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Arte of Defence: An Introduction to the Use of the Rapier
by William E. Wilson
During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, hundreds of fencing manuals were published in Italy and throughout Europe, each summarizing a particular master's techniques and philosophy. Today, thousands of rapier enthusiasts throughout the world study these manuals but until now there has been no introductory manual to place them in context and to distill the fundamentals needed to master the weapon. William Wilson, one of the most highly respected instructors of the Italian rapier in the United States, successfully captures the romance of swashbuckling combat and forges it together with solid fundamentals culled from the historical masters. This book promises to quickly becomea standard reference for fencers, historical swordsmen, fight choreographers and Western martial artists.
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Harnessing Anger : The Inner Discipline of Athletic Excellence
by Peter Westbrook, Tej Hazarika
A six-time Olympian and 13-time U.S. national champion, Peter Westbrook is one of America's most decorated athletes. As a fencer, he toils in relative obscurity, yet his accomplishments in and out of the arena are legion. As a black man in a white sport, he's become an Arthur Ashe with sword instead of racket, a pioneer with deep community roots. Westbrook's chronicle is a sharply told tale of controlled rage and inspiring self-discovery, filled with fascinating insight into an incredibly demanding, psychologically challenging, and fiercely competitive sport.
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By the Sword : A History of Gladiators, Musketeers, Samurai, Swashbucklers, and Olympic Champions
by Richard Cohen
Napoleon fenced. So did Shakespeare, Karl Marx, Grace Kelly, and President Truman, who would cross swords with Bess after school. Lincoln was a canny dueler. Ignatius Loyola challenged a man to a duel for denying Christ’s divinity (and won). Less successful, but no less enthusiastic, was Mussolini, who would tell his wife he was “off to get spaghetti,” their code to avoid alarming the children.
By the Sword is an epic history of sword fighting—a science, an art and, for many, a religion that began at the dawn of civilization in ancient Egypt and has been an obsession for mankind ever since. With wit and insight, Richard Cohen gives us an engrossing alternative history of the world.
Sword fighting was an entertainment in ancient Rome, a sacred rite in medieval Japan, and throughout the ages a favorite way to settle scores. For centuries, dueling was the scourge of Europe, banned by popes on threat of excommunication, and by kings who then couldn’t keep themselves from granting pardons—in the case of Louis XIV, in the thousands. Evidence of this passion is all around us: We shake hands to show that we are not reaching for our sword. A gentleman offers a lady his right arm because his sword was once attached to his left hip. Men button their jackets to the right to give them swifter access to their sword.
In his sweeping narrative, Cohen takes us from the training of gladiators to the tricks of the best Renaissance masters, from the exploits of musketeers to swashbuckling Hollywood by way of the great moments in Olympic fencing. A young George Patton competed in the 1912 Olympics. In 1936, a Jewish champion fenced for Hitler. Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone were ardent swordsmen. We meet their coaches and the man who staged the fight scenes in Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, and James Bond’s Die Another Day.
Richard Cohen has the rare distinction of being both a compelling writer and a champion sabreur. He lets us see swordplay as graceful and brutal, balletic and deadly, technically beautiful and fiercely competitive—the most romantic of martial arts. By the Sword is a virtuoso performance that is sure to beguile history lovers, sports fans, military buffs, and anyone who ever dreamed of crossing swords with Darth Vader.
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Spada: An Anthology of Swordsmanship in Memory of Ewart Oakeshott
by Members of Wordplay Syposium International
Today the study of historical swordsmanship spans the globe; talented swordmasters, fencing instructors, stage choreographers, reenactors, members of the SCA and other similar groups are coming together to share in the art of swordsmanship.
We know of more than 175 treatises on swordsmanship and its related arts. SPADA, the flagship publication of the Swordplay Symposium International (SSI), was conceived as a place where scholarship relating to the sword arts could be published to the very highest standards. What has emerged is that--and more.
Included in the premier volume are articles dealing with a range of topics that makes it one of the most exciting books on swordsmanship yet to be published. Included are works by scholars both new and renowned on a range of topics including sword legend Ewart Oakeshott’s final article, Studying Arms Within the Circumference of History; The Art of Parrying (Greg Mele); Counterattacks with Opposition (Stephen Hand); Dom Duarte’s Advice on Swordsmanship (Steve Hick); Early Medieval Sword & Shield Techniques (Stephen Hand & Paul Wagner); Hungarian Sabre Techniques (Russell Mitchell); Grappling in Renaissance Fencing (John Clements); Handedness in Staff Arts (Paul Wagner); Foundations of Italian Rapier (William E. Wilson); Spanish Rapier in Saviolo (Stephen Hand & Ramon Martinez); Highland Swordsmanship (Paul Wagner).
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The Medieval Art of Swordsmanship: A Facsimile & Translation of Europe's Oldest Personal Combat Treatise, Ro Yal Armouries MS I.33 (Royal Armouries Monograph)
by Jeffrey L. Forgeng (Editor)
Royal Armouries MS I.33 is the oldest illustrated fencing manual in existence, which makes this book valuable to students of European Medieval martial arts for that reason alone. However, it also has the distinctions of describing an interesting non-military style of fencing, is beautifully illustrated in the style of illuminated religious manuscripts, and depicts priests and women fencers! Because of the 8.5 x 11 glossy, color plates, this book is expensive, but I think it is worth it for the reasons cited above.
The translator, Dr. Jeffrey Forgeng, has been working in the field for decades and his introductory material and footnotes are exhaustive and provide a lot of information on the context of the Medieval German fencing tradition that are not in print anywhere else.
Understand, however, that this is a facsimile and translation of a manuscript, it is not a how-to book on medieval sword fighting. The how-to book on this system is Paul Wagner & Stephen Hand's "Medieval Sword and Shield: The Combat System of Royal Armouries MS I.33" also published by Chivalry Bookshelf.
No serious library of books on European Medieval martial arts is complete without this book.
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The Ultimate Guide to Weight Training for Fencing
by Robert G. Price, Maryanne Haselow-Dulin (Editor)
The Ultimate Guide to Weight Training for Fencing is the most comprehensive and up-to-date fencing-specific training guide in the world today. It contains descriptions and photographs of over 80 of the most effective weight training, flexibility, and abdominal exercises used by athletes worldwide. This book features year-round fencing-specific weight-training programs guaranteed to improve your performance and get you results.
No other fencing book to date has been so well designed, so easy to use, and so committed to weight training. This book takes you from the off-season to the in-season, and is loaded with dozens of tips and pointers to help you maximize your training and improve your performance.
Both beginners and advanced athletes and weight trainers can follow this book and utilize its programs. From recreational to professional, thousands of athletes all over the world are already benefiting from this book and its techniques, and now you can too!
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Schools and Masters of Fencing : From the Middle Ages to the Eighteenth Century
by Egerton Castle
The standard reference on historical swordsmanship since its 1885 publication, this volume is still widely considered the definitive work on fencing history and the art of European swordsmanship. The author traces fencing from its roots in the unschooled brawling of the Middle Ages to its latter-day precision and refinement; he focuses particularly on the 16th-century development of the rapier and the weapon's popularity in Renaissance Italy, where Italian masters founded the modern art of swordsmanship. Abundantly illustrated, this legendary work, long out-of-print, will be of great interest to scholars as well as fencing and sword enthusiasts. Unabridged republication of the classic 1885 edition.
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Running With Swords: The Adventures and Misadventures of The Irrepressible Canadian Fencing Champion
by Sherraine Mackay
Prior to the 2004 Athens Olympics, few Canadians - outside fencing circles - knew very much about Sherraine MacKay, but as the countdown to those games began, her name became more and more familiar, and while the world of fencing had been, up to that time, an esoteric sport at best, it too was suddenly thrust into the limelight. It helped, of course, that in the last World Cup of the season prior to the Games, MacKay had won gold (her second) that she had been ranked as high as number two, and consistently ranked among the top 10 female fencers in the world over the past five years. It helped that her photo suddenly began appearing in our national magazines and in major daily newspapers across Canada. It helped that she was ebullient, outspoken, quick-witted and funny enough to land a spot reading her Letters from Paris on CBC Radio’s The Inside Track with host Robin Brown. In a surprise upset, a Greek fencer bested Sherraine in Athens, though the Canadian women’s team, which she anchored, finished fourth - the best finish ever by Canadian women in Olympic fencing. Running with Swords, is Sherraine McKay’s journal, her own story of her incredible journey from tiny Brooks, Alberta where she was born, to Paris, France where she moved to train for Athens while teaching English as a second language to elite athletes. At once inspiring, thoughtful and brimming with MacKay’s sense of humour, it is also the story of young athletes from Canada and around the world, of the sacrifices made in the pursuit of dreams, the friendships forged, and the joy of the game whether on the track, in the field, in the water, on the ice, or on the piste.
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Highland Swordsmanship: Techniques of the Scottish Sword Masters
by William Hope, Mark Rector McBane (Editor)
A Compendium of the redoubtable Soldier, fencing master, and prize fighter DONALD McBANE's Expert Sword-Man's Companion, late Deputy-Governour of Edinburgh Castle and celebrated Sword-man Sir WILLIAM HOPE's New Method ofFencing, and PAUL WAGNER's fine essay GAELIC SWORDSMANSHIP. The Scottish Highlander has been romanticized in poetry, song and legend, immortalized in the figures of Bonnie Prince Charlie and Rob Roy. His reputationas a fierce fighter and deadly swordsman was more than a myth however: a proud tradition of Scottish fencing masters taught the use of the backsword, smallsword, target and dirk in the 17th-19th centuries.
From the 'Anglicized' upper-class Sir William Hope to the bawdy soldier-turned-fencing master Donald McBane, who ran his fencing salon out of his wife's brothel, these masters were as colorful and diverse as the Scottish people themselves. In this omnibus edition, Mark Rector presents these classic manuals of Scottish swordsmanship from the days of Culloden. MARK RECTOR is a founder of the Chicago Swordplay Guild and an Associate Director of the Swordplay Symposium International. Contributors: PAUL WAGNER is a founding member of the Stoccata School of Defence in Sydney, Australia; PAUL MACDONALD is founder and Director of the British Federation for Historical Swordplay; MILO THURSTON is the founder of the Linacre School of Defence.
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Nadi on Fencing
by Paul Gallico (Foreword), Aldo Nadi
Amateur champion and Olympic gold medalist, professional competitor and fencing master, duelist and teacher--Aldo Nadi ranks among the greatest fencers of all time. In this comprehensive guide to foil technique, suitable for both beginners and advanced fencers, he offers an unsurpassed wealth of technical and tactical advice and evokes the sport's glamour, romance, and excitement. Nadi presents philosophical and practical evaluations of every facet of the game, from attack, defense, and deceit, to the impulse to win, the tournament temperament, and the ability to analyze opponents. Written in the 1940s, this guide became the most-sought-after volume of its kind, and it remains essential reading for every serious fencer and aspiring champion.
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THE MODERN SWORDSMAN - Realistic Training for Serious Self-Defense
by Fred Hutchinson, Fred Hutchinson
Here is a complete training program designed to help the aspiring sword fighter become proficient with his weapon of choice and truly dangerous to an adversary. Covers mental conditioning, air-cutting drills, slow-motion and exaggerated-range-of-motion practice, extra-heavy sword drills, isometric and resistance training, point-sensitivity drills, aggressiveness and power training, speed and accuracy drills and more.
Fred Hutchinson is an avid martial artist who focuses on practical, systematic training in traditional combat methods for use in effective modern self-defense.
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