The art of fencing : or, the use of the small sword

It's not possible for me to rate this book because it is such a rarity--I have found nothing to compare it to. Few written manuals on fencing from the period of this work have survived--none that I have read. It's value as a historic record is widely acknowledged. If that is the basis of a rating, than it should be five stars.

This historic manual is only somewhat related to modern manuals on sports fencing written by today's great fencing coaches (now the more usual modern term in sports fencing in the US rather than master). The aim of those modern manuals is to aid in developing a winning game on the fencing strip. In contrast, L'Abbat's The Art of Fencing was a manual for use of the sword in actual combat. There is considerable show more difference between those aims. Therefore, these manuals are not comparable to L'Abbat and do not provide any reference points for rating this historic work.

As a work of literature, it is not easy reading for the modern readers--even for the modern sports fencer who can see how techniques discussed are ancestors of techniques still in use on the fencing strip. As literature, I would have to give it very few stars.

Practitioners of Historic European Martial Arts (HEMA) may have a different relationship to this text and different reference points for it's value. I will leave that determination to them. show less