{"product_id":"weapons-and-armor-9780486242422","title":"Weapons and Armor","description":"A \"misericorde\" is a medieval poniard or dagger made for one purpose -- to give the \"coup de grace\" or killing stroke. It was a beautiful, deadly instrument with a graphic mission; its very shape and cut graphically manifest its age and those who used it.\u003cbr\u003eWeapons throughout history chronicle ages, styles, and approaches to life and death; for artists, a weapons archive is a pictorial arsenal of powerful imagery. Here is such an arsenal: over 1,400 copyright-free illustrations of weapons and armor epitomizing the warlike times and peoples of this planet.\u003cbr\u003eTwenty-two categories of offensive and defensive arms and armor include battle-axes, bows and arrows, cannons, catapults, clubs, daggers, handguns, machine guns, powder horns, rifles, spears, swords, tanks, suits of armor, helmets, shields, and other means of combat. These copyright-free black-and-white illustrations (with a few half-tones) have been culled from almost 50 separate sources, ranging from books of ancient armor to scarce foreign periodicals and engravings. Along with the arms themselves are those who wield them -- soldiers, warriors, knights, horsemen, hunters, jousters, duelists, arms manufacturers, aborigines, centurions, dragoons, musketeers, samurai, crusaders, in full period regalia. One plate identifies all the parts of a 17th-century suit of armor -- visor, gorget, tassets, epauliere, cuisse, chain mail, gauntlet, etc.; many show details of intricate Renaissance and modern carving on pommels, blades, rifle butts, and boomerangs. Some remarkable devices include the Chinese Tartar 2-handed sword, Malay creese, Tormentum, Maxim gun, 16th-century Italian cross-bow, Soviet tank from World War II, Indian damascened cuirass, bamboo lance, halberd, and the scimitar.\u003cbr\u003eUnusual strokes may be visually delivered by such instruments as the Patagonian bola, a cane sword, the Zarabatana native blow gun, and the infamous \"holy water sprinkler.\"\u003cbr\u003eArtists and designers will not find these rare emblems of warfare gathered together elsewhere in such a clearly printed format, so quickly accessible; historians of art, industry, and war as well as weapons fanciers will marvel at all the picturesque means here depicted of giving the \"coup de grace.\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Dover Publications\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 02\/01\/1982\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780486242422\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 192\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.44lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 12.21h x 9.26w x 0.50d","brand":"Harold M. Hart","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":36637677781148,"sku":"9780486242422","price":21.24,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_7cbc2a05-6dc7-4021-8ec8-1febd06458cf.jpg?v=1603845411","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/weapons-and-armor-9780486242422","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}