archery-books-msg - 3/22/17

Books on period archery. Book reviews.

NOTE: See also the files: p-archery-msg, arch-supplies-msg, archery-msg, crossbows-msg, arch-books-FAQ.

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NOTICE -

This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.

This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org

I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter.

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Thank you,
    Mark S. Harris                  AKA:  THLord Stefan li Rous
                                          Stefan at florilegium.org
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Date: 26 May 92 
From: aryk at gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca (a.j.s. nusbacher)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Organization:  University of Toronto * Universitas Torontoniensis 

For good, readable, very current scholarship on the subject, I refer you
to:

Bradbury, Jim.  _The Medieval Archer_.  New York:  St. Martin's Press, 1985.
198pp.

Bradbury shoots a lot of arrows into the myth of the long bow as a Welsh
invention, making it quite clear that it was English in origin.  He also gives
dimensions for some arrows which put them close in dimensions to golf-tube
arrows (not _really_ close:  86cm long, 2.54cm thick)

And:

Davis, R.H.C.  _The Medieval Warhorse_.  New York:  Thames and Hudson, 1989.
144pp.

Davis addresses horse breeding and breeds in England, as well as horse prices,
in addition to discussing their deployment in battle and in the tournament
and tilts.

Neither of these books is especially thick or especially dense.
_____________________________________________________________ 
Aryk Nusbacher                .. .. Celebrating the 20th Anniversary    
                                     
          Hart House                 Informal Education in the University
    aryk at gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca         
            VE3UOT                   

From: dgeiken at uiuc.edu (Deane Geiken)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Cool new Archery Book
Date: Wed, 2 Aug 1995 01:49:07 GMT
Organization: WILL AM/FM/TV, PBS, University of Illinois

Osprey has done it again.  It has just released English Longbowman.  It is #
11 of the Warrior Series.   ISBN1855324911.  Get it!.  It has everything 
from underwear to shoes to points to ......everything.  It focuses a little 
too much on the 15th century for my taste, but gives some wonderfull insight 
in many aspects that are overlooked by the so called "period" archers of the 
SCA.  Man, I got a lot of work ahead of me now, thanks to this book.  For 
more info, E-mail directly at dgeiken at uiuc.edu.

See ya.
Deane

Deane Geiken                                    Phone:    (217) 333-0850
Master Control Operator                         FAX:      (217) 333-7151
WILL AM/FM Radio                                Internet: dgeiken at uiuc.edu
University of Illinois

Date: Thu, 25 Mar 1999 09:58:54 -0700
From: Nancy Lynch <lughbec at info2000.net>
To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu
Subject: Re: Archer book

SNSpies at aol.com wrote:
> Does anyone have full citation information for a book called "The Traditional
> Archer" (or something equivalent)?  Thank you.
>
> Ingvild
...............
Well, no, not that title, but the following is our personal library of
"something equivalent"...:)
        Lughbec

"Arrows Against Steel"  history of the bow, by Vic Hurley, Mason and
Charter, New York, 1975     0-88405-094-7

"Longbow, a social and military history", by Robert Hardy, Bois d'Arc
Press, 1993     1-85260-412-3

"The Grey Goose Wing, Legends of the Longbow" by E.G. Heath, Derrydale
Press, Lyon, Mississippi, 1994 (Copyright 1971 - Osprey Publishing, Ltd)

"The Traditional Bowyers Bible" Steve Allely..., Bois d'Arc Press, 1992

"The Medieval Archer"  Jim Bradbury, Boydell Press, Woodbridge, Suffolk,
UK, 1994     0-85115-194-9

Date: Thu, 25 Mar 1999 11:13:26 -0600
From: Wendy Robertson <timwendy at avalon.net>
To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu
Subject: Re: Archer book

Author:         Greenland, Hilary.
Title:          The traditional archer's handbook / by Hilary Greenland.
Edition:        Rev. ed.
Published:      Bristol : Sylvan Archery, 1994.
Description:    84 p. : ill. ; 21 cm.
Subjects:       Archery--Handbooks, manuals, etc.
                Longbows--Handbooks, manuals, etc.
Notes:          Previous ed.: 1993.
ISBN:           0952462702 (pbk) : No price

Ailene

Date: Thu, 25 Mar 1999 17:17:14 -0500
From: Carol Thomas <scbooks at neca.com>
To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu
Subject: Re: Archer book

>"Longbow, a social and military history", by Robert Hardy, Bois d'Arc
>Press, 1993     1-85260-412-3

This book is now in paperback ISBN 0-9645741-3-6.

Apparently the hard-cover is out of print.

Lady Carllein
Small Churl Books catalog: http://www.neca.com/~scbooks/

Date: Thu, 30 Nov 2006 01:28:43 -0500
From: mmagnusol <MMagnusOL at nc.rr.com>
Subject: [SCA-AS] New Archery Books by Hugh Soar,	Hon. Sec. Society of
	Archer-Antiquaries
To: - Medieval Leather List <medieval-leather at yahoogroups.com>,	"-
	MedievalEncampments at yahoogroups.com"
	<MedievalEncampments at yahoogroups.com>, 	- Metallum_Lochac
	<Metallum_Lochac at yahoogroups.com.au>,	- SCA-ARTS
	<artssciences at lists.gallowglass.org>,	- StellarArts
	<StellarArts at yahoogroups.com>

Please note the special relevance of the first book to what we do.
It is based on the Mary Rose surviving examples.
The chapter in the Hardy Longbow book was good, but this is much better.

Soar, Hugh D. H.; Joseph Gibbs, Christopher Jury, Mark Stretton:
Secrets of the English War Bow; Westholme Publishing Llc, 2006;
Hardcover - Sewn binding. Paper over boards. 	With dust jacket.
245 p. with Illustrations. ISBN 1594160252  $26.60

	"Dominating medieval battlefields for more than two
centuries but requiring long and arduous practice to command,
the English war bow and its battle shaft are the symbols of the rise
of British power in Europe.

     Despite being crafted for hundreds of years and wielded by
generations of archers, the sole surviving examples of this fearsome
weapon—the military version of the longbow—are those recovered
from the Tudor warship Mary Rose. Now for the first time, expert
craftsmen use all available evidence including applied archaeology
to unlock the secrets of the English war bow.

     Historian Hugh D. H. Soar is joined by Mark Stretton, arrowsmith,
and Joseph Gibbs, bowyer, in order to demonstrate how a war bow and
its associated arrow heads and 	shafts may have been constructed and
used. In addition to showing the complete manufacture of a bow from
tree selection to stringing and how specialized arrowheads were forged
and attached to shafts, Secrets of the English War Bow provides
information on the actual performance of the war bow, including the
bow’s effectiveness against various materials and, for the first time,
its use against moving targets, since bows were often drawn against
mounted soldiers. Armed with this new information, Soar provides
an analysis of both successes and failures of the war bow in several
important battles.

     Illustrated in color and black and white, 
Secrets of the English War Bow provides an invaluable service for those 
interested in medieval military history, archery, and technology.
   About the Author:
   Hugh D. H. Soar has written extensively about the longbow, including
the best-selling The Crooked Stick: A History of the Longbow, also
available from Westholme Publishing. 

Mark Stretton, master blacksmith, holds the world’s record for heaviest 	longbow shot. Joseph Gibbs is a talented bowyer who specializes in creating the replica war bow.
  Written in English   Amazon $26.60 - eligible for free shipping.
'
Soar, Hugh H. D.:  The Crooked Stick: A History of the Longbow
(Weapons in History); 	Publisher: Westholme Publishing [United States],
Hardcover, ISBN: 1594160023,  Amazon $17.47 
October 2004.

He also has another book that is new but I could 
only find it in England
on Amazon.co.uk and the shipping is more expensive:

Soar, Hugh D. H.: Of Bowmen and Battles; 
Publisher: The Glade, 2003;
Paperback: 230 pages, 	ISBN 0951764519.  New. 
Amazon.co.uk 	
	£13.98 + Postage & Packing: £6.98 = Total: £20.96

Anyone wishing to join the Society of 
Archer-Antiquaries outside the
U.K. I can put in touch with Hugh.  It is possible to cheaply transfer membership funds through PayPal if you have that.  They would 
like more international members.  It costs £20 per year and there is an 
annual journal and several smaller newsletter publications that also includes 
archery news and small articles.

Master Magnus
Great Barony of Windmasters' Hill, Adria, the 
Manx, GDH, Soc. of Archer-Antiquaires

Date: Thu, 2 Jun 2011 10:17:04 +1000
From: Raymond Wickham <insidious565@hotmail.com>
Subject: [Lochac] academic book on the englisg war bow fyi
To: <lochac@lochac.sca.org>

Soar, Hugh David Hewitt with Joseph Gibbs, Christopher Jury and Mark
Stretton. "Secrets of the English War Bow". Yardley: Westholme
Publishing, September 2010. Pp. x, 245. $ 19.95. ISBN: 978-1-59416-126-
1.

This 245-page book, with black and white figures and a eight-page
color section, is the latest book published by historian Hugh D. H.
Soar, coming after three books among which is the noticeable
"Croocked Stick: a History of the Longbow". The latter aimed
to study the different uses of the bow--in addition to its use
during wartime--in the context of hunting and entertainment from
its origins in the Neolithic period.

Hugh Soar is frequently presented as a user of archery, a
traditional archery expert in all its aspects (history,
manufacturing techniques and use). He is a member of the Royal
Society Toxophilite and the General Secretary of the British
Longbow Society. He regularly contributes to the publication of
articles in the "Journal of the Society of Archer-
Antiquaries". For this work, he benefited from the expertise of
three other people. Joseph Gibbs, a bowyer who specialized in
manufacturing replica war bows, and Christopher Jury, a master
fletcher, have helped to mainly provide the photographs
illustrating the book. Mark Stretton, a master blacksmith and an
outstanding archer has meanwhile written two chapters about
manufacture of arrows, their design, their performance and their
ability to penetrate in different situations and against different
targets.

From the FB "Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA)" group:

From the fb "Quivers & Quarrels - dedicated to the archers of the SCA" group:

Conrad Engelhart
August 5 at 4:36am · Coal Mountain, GA

I came across a website with old archery books, articles and prints online. The books date from 1515 until 1947. Mostly European, but there are a few on Native American and Arab archery.

The Archery Library: Free online versions of old Archery Books, Articles and Prints
The Archery library is a free online library containing digital versions of old archery books, prints and…
ARCHERYLIBRARY.COM|BY MARCELO MULLER

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