Reference Tools for South East Asian Edged Weapons

[imas560]

Hello all,
I have an interest in South East Asian edged weapons particularly Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.
I am trying to locate approx 3-5 books for a reference toolbox.
So far I have the following:

I have access to "Moro Swords" by Robert Cato.

I own a copy of "Traditional Weapons of the Indonesian Archipelago" by van Zonneveld.

I was about to track down a copy of Gardner's "Keris and Other Malay Weapons" but the reviews/advice didn't make me think the book should be in the top 3 for reference/research.

There is also a post in this forum in regards to a book to be published by Tim Rodgers that is currently being reviewed by some of the forum members.

Then there is the online reference tools such as this site.
If anyone could point me in the right direction for definitive reference books I would be most thankful.

[Jim McDougall]

Hi Imas,
Its always impressive to see someone with a serious approach to learning more on a certain field of weapons, and the two references you already have are of course key. I would note that the core of knowledge here on these kinds of weapons is phenomenal, and if you use the search feature you will find important threads with tons of information.

Also, when you first pull up 'Ethnographic Sword Forum' , instead of going to forums, scroll down and you will see articles written by members here and resourced material such as plates from Kriegers outstanding Smithsonian work (1926).
The work by Ian Greaves, Mark Bowditch and Andrew Winston is amazing in thier "Swords of Continental Southeast Asia" which is among the material in these links, as well as Mark's "Dha Research Archive".
Until the work done by these gentlemen, there were virtually no resources on these weapons were available in the west, and this was seminal work entailing years of experience in handling and acquiring examples of dha.




All best regards,
Jim

[Royston]

Hello Imas

It has some faults, but I would still recomend Stone's Glossary.

Regards
Roy

[kahnjar1]

Hi and welcome to the Forum. You might also try to get hold of a copy of The History of Steel in Eastern Asia. This was published in LARGE book form as a catalogue of exhibits at the Macau Museum of Art. Well worth having in my opinion if you can find a copy.Your best bet would be to contact Antonio Cejunior, who is a member here by sending him a PM. If he can not help you in acquiring a copy, he may be in a position to advise where to try.
Regards Stuart

[Jim McDougall]

Hello Imas

It has some faults, but I would still recomend Stone's Glossary.

Regards
Roy


Excellent call Roy! I've gotten so used to having that as a standard that I forget to mention it :) Although written in 1930s , it serves as the spine of any library on serious arms study, and certainly has flaws from nearly 8 decades of new findings and subsequent research....but essential benchmark just the same.

[Rick]

History of Steel has sold out .
Try Amazon, Abebooks, etc .

I have 3 copies; but they will go with the weapons I contributed to the exhibition .

[imas560]

Thanks everyone.
I'm still trying to locate the articles linked from this site.
I'll start hunting around for "The History of Steel in Eastern Asia" and Stone's Glossary.
Much appreciated.

[kai]

I'm still trying to locate the articles linked from this site.
http://www.vikingsword.com/ethsword/index.html

Also, don't forget to search the old fora!


I'll start hunting around for "The History of Steel in Eastern Asia"
It's nice to have but will be expensive! It focuses on East Asia is, thus, less relevant to your interests and most pics are available online. I'd drop this from the must-have list and suggest to add Solyom & Solyom for a bit of keris (Jawa) info. Karsten's kris disk gives an overview on keris diversity.


and Stone's Glossary.
The early reprints have a better pic quality.

Regards,
Kai

[Andrew]

Hi Imas,
Its always impressive to see someone with a serious approach to learning more on a certain field of weapons, and the two references you already have are of course key. I would note that the core of knowledge here on these kinds of weapons is phenomenal, and if you use the search feature you will find important threads with tons of information.

Also, when you first pull up 'Ethnographic Sword Forum' , instead of going to forums, scroll down and you will see articles written by members here and resourced material such as plates from Kriegers outstanding Smithsonian work (1926).
The work by Ian Greaves, Mark Bowditch and Andrew Winston is amazing in thier "Swords of Continental Southeast Asia" which is among the material in these links, as well as Mark's "Dha Research Archive".
Until the work done by these gentlemen, there were virtually no resources on these weapons were available in the west, and this was seminal work entailing years of experience in handling and acquiring examples of dha.




All best regards,
Jim

Thanks for the kind words, Jim. Looking at that article now, I'm still amazed at how little we really know. My personal research, such as it was, effectively ended a few years ago as work and family conspired to consume my limited free time. Perhaps when my kids are grown and I retire...

In any event, at this point, I hope that our Thai and Burmese colleagues "on the ground" in SEA will someday publish a definitive work. In the interim, I suspect one of my co-authors may be quietly continuing his research. ;)

Best,
Andrew

[Andrew]

Oh, and I still love Stone. Yes, it is terribly outdated and, in some instances, ridiculously wrong. However, it deserves a place in every arms/armour library. In fact, I submit if one could only purchase one book on the topic, this should be it. The illustrations alone justify the purchase.

This is an old thread worth looking at:

http://www.vikingsword.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/001722.html