hello everyone

[napoleon]

hello,could anyone recomend the best reference for the study of keris,in english if possible ,i have quite a few i saved over time,regards napoleon

[Rick]

Hi Napoleon, welcome .

You could start with :

The World of the Javanese Keris
by Garrett and Bronwen Solyum

Ensiklopedi Keris
by Bambang Harsrinuksmo (not in english but lots of pictures)

For insight:

Visible and Invisible Realms
By Margeret Weiner

Others will suggest more I'm sure .

[Jussi M.]

Others will suggest more I'm sure .
Yes.

http://kerisattosanaji.com/kerisinformation.html + see the classics on this forum.

;)

J.

[David]

I will second Rick's suggestions, but must point out that IMO there really is no "best" reference book on the subject of keris. Most of them have their failings, many have misinformation passed along from previous incorrect sources and few are very comprehensive.
I have no complaints about the info in the Solyum book, but it is fairly introductory and is, of course, specific to the Javanese keris. A must have in any keris library though.
Weiner's Visible and Invisible Realms is not specifically about keris, but it is invaluable to the understanding of keris within the culture.
I would also suggest the lastest upgraded re-issue of Groneman's The Javanese Kris as well as Theo Alkema's Iron Ancestors which aims it's study at keris sajen and other talismanic tojan aji.

[DAHenkel]

For a good general introduction to the keris, that it not (particularly) Java centric, in Indonesian (unless of course you can manage that), is not a specialist reference tome and not out of print...

...Try David Van Duuren's The Kris: An Earthly Approach to a Cosmic Symbol.

[A. G. Maisey]

Naploeon, you say :-

"--- study of the keris---"

this is an enormous field that needs several lifetimes to achieve anything like a comprehensive base of knowledge --- thus most of us settle for something a little less than comprehensive.

All the recommendations of the people who have already responded to you, I agree with, however, I would suggest that you might like to consider what it is that you find most interesting about the keris at this point in time, and then perhaps we could tailor our recommendations to help satisfy your quest for knowledge.