Preface

Unlike the majority of other sports played around the world, fencing is truly an activity that can substantiate its claim that it has successfully traversed the centuries as both an instrument of deadly combat and as a manner of art form. The fact that so many books, manuscripts and other associated materials have been written or produced on the subject pays tribute to the popularity of this now enjoyable past time. There are very few sports that are played today that can lay claim to such an extensive history as can the sport of fencing. The uniqueness of fencing is that its evolution, development, and systematic codification of rules and regulations is well documented, and in most instances readily available to find.

This updated and augmented bibliography is a continuation and revision of an earlier edition produced in Canada in 1996 entitled The complete bibliography of the art and sport of fencing. It became readily apparent when I started to compile my first bibliography that the task at hand would be a formidable challenge. Using older bibliographies produced by Jacopo Gelli (1895), Carl Thimm (1896), José Ramon García Donnell (1926), and later works by Falk Schwigat (1987) and Lászlo Nagy (1987) the basic research began. The major obstacle was not being able to see and verify entries first hand, and as such, inconsistencies, spelling mistakes and fanciful entries found in earlier bibliographies were duplicated and could not be substantiated. Also, the majority of primary research was conducted using hardcopy library catalogues and Hytelnet, a budding electronic database that a number of major university libraries were experimenting with at that time. Eight years later the method of data collection has improved significantly as has the accuracy of the data listed.

After the first bibliography was released a number of serious collectors offered me much assistance in correcting the spelling and errors found in the first edition. Malcolm Fare from the United Kingdom, maître Rudi Van Oeveren from the Museum Van Oeveren in France, Rainer Köbelin from Germany, Antonio Spallino from Italy and A.D. Rivera from the USA must all be thanked for their valuable assistance. I was also able to obtain complete collection listings from a number of sport schools from around the world and from public collections such as the Royal Armouries in the United Kingdom; the Corble Collection at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium; the R.L. Scott Collection in Glasgow, Scotland and the extensive holdings of the Fick Collection in the Livrustkammaren (Royal Armouries) in Stockholm, Sweden.

I would like to thank Philip Abbott, dr. Chris Coppens, Tobias Capwell and Henrik Andersson respectively as custodians of the previously mentioned holdings for their assistance in providing me with listings of their collections. A very warm thank-you must be extended to Henrik Andersson from the Livrustkammaren for the incredible amount of time he spent proof-reading the files from the rough manuscript, and for the many helpful suggestions he made with respect to 'cleaning up' many of the entries made by Carl Thimm in 1896. His assistance and encouragement was invaluable in this project and certainly went beyond the call of duty. Similarly, Malcolm Fare must also be acknowledged for the time he spent on proof reading the revised files, as well as maître Rudi Van Oeveren for his assistance in verifying many of the older works listed by Carl Thimm.

One of the major difficulties of conducting research on fencing while residing in Canada is that very few historic fencing manuals and manuscripts can be found in Canada. As such, the hunt for information and verification of entries was made easier once I was able to hold and see a historic fencing manual. Much appreciation goes out to maître Rudi Van Oeveren for allowing me to view his extensive holdings on fencing, and to Malcolm Fare for allowing me to examine his pristine collection of fencing books.

This project could not have been completed without the support of Wiebe Mokken from The Netherlands, whose encouragement to produce a high-end bibliography on the art and sport of fencing prompted me to resume the formidable task at hand. I believe that this edition is the finest and most complete bibliography produced on fencing to date. Hopefully, collectors and libraries around the world will appreciate the effort that mr. Mokken, as publisher of this extensive work, has made in order to make this publication a piece of art and a significant document of historical relevance.

Unfortunately, this version of the bibliography still has some limitations. First, although much effort was made in trying to verify the location of books and to fill in data missed by earlier bibliographers such as Gelli, Thimm, Garcia Donnell, Schwigat and Nagy, there are still a number of entries that could not be located. This does not mean that these entries do not exist, it just means that they have not been found yet in my research or have not been listed in accessible electronic catalogue holdings. Second, while vast improvements have been made in making library and collection catalogues available on-line, these listings are not hundred percent accurate and spelling mistakes and incorrect information was found from time to time in these catalogues. Third, and perhaps the most frustrating, is that most online catalogues are written in html and the transfer of files from one computer language to another inevitably results in some very strange effects. This holds true particularly when foreign accents are involved. All efforts have been made to minimize these errors.

When I was asked to consider working on this edition, the goal was to produce a bibliography strictly on European style fencing, and as such, there are no entries on Asian style fencing contained within this publication. Also, an incomplete listing of duelling books published up to the year 1914 will be included in this publication, as many early books on the subject included fencing technique. It is hoped that once completed that all entries will be classified and entered into a searchable electronic database that will be updated on a yearly basis. Other fencing related books such as Asian style fencing, fencing novels and other associated material on fencing will be included in the electronic database at a later date. Subscribers will be able to access this database and request yearly updates on cd-rom and on the internet

In order to capture the most extensive updated material on fencing this bibliography will include all publications produced until 2001. Although my last bibliography was published in 1996 the entries found in that particular publication stopped with those produced in 1995. It is expected that the six-year difference will add more entries to the ever-growing list of books, manuals, manuscripts and other associated material published on the exciting and dynamic sport and art of fencing.

Yours in Sport,

Hendrik (Henk) Willem Pardoel
Head Fencing Coach
Communications Coordinator
Sport Information Office
Queen's University at Kingston
Canada