African Arms and Armour
London: British Museum Press, 1993. Hardcover. Brown cloth boards, gilt spine lettering, bright color illustrated dust jacket, blue spine with white lettering, 144 pages, 24 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (30 in color, 130 bw), map. VG/VG. Item #178235
ISBN: 9780714125084
"The weaponry of Africa, used in ritual as well as combat, has fascinated generations of travellers. Their eye-witness accounts, the oral history of Africans, and the magnificent weapons themselves are among the sources from which the author builds up a comprehensive survey of traditional arms and armour. From North Africa to the Cape, from the far west to the Horn, he describes the weapons particular to each society, how they were made and for what purpose. the standard sword of the Benin soldier, for example, was the opia, an effective two edged leaf shaped blade, while the ada was ceremonial, carried before royal chiefs as a symbol of their power and allegiance to the king. In the kingdom of Dahomey women too went into battle and Richard Burton ws particularly impressed by the blunderbuss women "who may be considered the grenadiers. They are the biggest and strongest force. The variety of weapons is very great, including such distinctively African forms as the throwing knife, arm dagger and wrist knife. Many have survived in museum collections of private hands and are included here together with early engravings and field photos as well as the author's line drawings."- dust jacket.
OCLC: 28973263
Sorry, this book is not available.
Notify me when this comes back in stock.