The Illustrated Directory Swords & Sabres: A visual encyclopedia of edged weapons, including swords, sabres, pikes, polearms and lances, with over 550 photographs Paperback – March 16, 2012

Not only is the content of the book great, but the pictures are beautiful. I'm a hobbyist bladesmith and know something of the history of swords and knives throughout the world, but this book had a few surprises in it for me. All of that being said, it is written in a very approachable manner, the information easy to find and elegantly delivered.

This book has hundreds of good sword pictures and comments about the individual swords pictured. A lot of good information, and I am certainly happy with my purchase. I have spend several happy hours with it. I do recommend it highly.However, I find it just a little dry, with its standard format of 3 swords with 3 paragraphs per page, and enjoyed "Swords and hilt weapons" more, with its dozens of interesting articles by many scholars, with fewer pictures. I would recomend it as your first sword book. If you are a serious collector or sword aficionado, you really should have both books.

Bought for a young one who's fascinated by swords. Great pix & descriptions... very few pictures of bloody body parts; great for my li'l guy.

This book h as become my reference book. I have a collecting and before I get the sword I look it up in this book!

Nice Photos and presentation. The photos were very helpful for research. There were many unexpected and rather curious pieces. A great addition to any historical library.

Awesome book for a lover of swords and other edged weapons. There are a lot of pictures with summaries of the weapon or class of weapons highlighted. I wish though that the book had more options of non-Western edged weapons.

A good concise visual history of swords.

Instantly upon opening it I knew it was well worth the money spent. The pictures are amazing and extensive. I immediately ordered the book on knives and daggers to go with this.