Hardcover, fire orange cloth cover, with a coated paper dust jacket, entitled "Swords & Blades of the American Revolution" (promoted as "the encyclopedia of bladed weapons - swords, bayonets, spontoons, halberds, pikes, knives, daggers, and axes - used by both sides, on land and sea, in America's struggle for independence") by George C. Neumann, line drawings by George C. Woodbridge, copyrighted in 1973 by The Stackpole Company, published by Stackpole Books of Harriburg, Pennsylvania, printed in the U.S.A., ISBN 0-8117-1720-8. As described on the dust jacket, the book "pictures, details and identifies more than 700 arms, tracing the evolution and history of each weapon. Located in private collections and institutions, the majority never before photographed for publication, the weapons pulled together here create the first comprehensive study of bladed weapons of the American War of Independence. Spanning the total Colonial period, with major emphasis on the years from 1700 to 1783, this book provides new insight on the shaping of basic weapon patterns and sketches a picture of America's evolving education in military tactics. Although the musket superseded the pike as the infantry's primary arm by 1700 in Europe, linear tactics persisted through the Revolution, and it often was the final clash of bladed weapons - a mass contact of bayonets, knives, swords, and pole arms - that ultimately and quite literally carved out victory. Beginning with the traditional European blades that traveled to America, this expert identifies and describes the basic weapons and explains their tactical use. Early in the Colonial period, adaptation began to appear in those crafted in the Colonies, and experience dictated the evolution of the weapon as traced here for today's historians and collectors. The whole story of blades in linear tactics develops as this book considers the geographic differences in weapons, their importance to civilians, the tactical lessons learned prior to 1775, and weapon production in America and in Europe. The great body of knowledge on identifying and understanding these blades, acquired over the years by private collectors who own most known existing specimens, is gathered here, along with more than 1600 illustrations and descriptive detail on: 1. Swords - infantry and artillery swords, naval swords, those used by horsemen; 2. Bayonets - plug and socket bayonets, tactics, definitions, usage; 3. Pole Arms - 17th and 18th century uses of spontoons, halberds, pikes, patterns and definitions; 4. Knives and Daggers - period of use, manufacture, belt and sheath knives, patterns and definitions; 5. Belt and Camp Axes - European evolution, adaptation in the Colonies, manufacture, carrying devices." It begins with a List of Contents, followed by a Preface by the author. The book is divided into seven chapters: 1 - Blades in the Early Colonies; 2 - Cold Steel on the Battlefield; 3 - Lines of Bayonets: The Ultimate Weapon!; 4 - The Flashing Sword: Draw Me Not Without Reason, Sheath Me Not Without Honor!; 5 - Stately Polearms: A Lingering of Prior Centuries; 6 - Knives and Daggers: Carve, Skin, Stab, and Scalp; 7 - The Belt and Camp Axes: To Clear the Land and Defend It!. It concludes with a Glossary of Terms, a Nomenclature Summary, a Bibliography, and a four page Index. The book contains 288 pages, printed in black ink, on a satin-finished white paper stock, enhanced with multiple photographs and line drawings throughout, complementing the detailed text, measuring 235 mm (w) x 310 mm (h) x 22 mm (d). The cover of the book exhibits pinching on the corners, the dust jacket with wear and tear along the edges and some tape repair, the contents of the book remaining unaffected. Better than very fine.
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