"A Passion for Indian Arms" Book Review

Lee · 29th October 2016, 07:24 PM

I have only had the book for a few days, but I am most pleased to have added it to my library. I already had a number of books on Indian arms, but so very often they remain very general in their descriptions and inadequate in the number and or quality of the illustrations (usually just reflecting publishing standards of the times when they were published rather than author's sloth). Jens' book delights in that he includes multiple detailed images for each item along with a coherent description including details such as dimensions, provenance, references and believable dating. I will also opine that another strength of the book is that of the excellence of the collection it depicts; usually what I will describe mostly as the top end of what was attainable to a very serious modern collector in the last fifty years.

The book starts out with three essays:
How Old is the Katar?
Saadat Khan Bahadur, the First Nawab of Oudh
Royal Katars of Bundi

These are followed by the collection's catalog in four main sections:
Daggers, Katars, Swords and Miscellaneous

Total pages: 368

29th October 2016, 07:24 PM	#3
Lee EAAF Staff Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Upstate New York, USA Posts: 932	A preliminary view - recommended I have only had the book for a few days, but I am most pleased to have added it to my library. I already had a number of books on Indian arms, but so very often they remain very general in their descriptions and inadequate in the number and or quality of the illustrations (usually just reflecting publishing standards of the times when they were published rather than author's sloth). Jens' book delights in that he includes multiple detailed images for each item along with a coherent description including details such as dimensions, provenance, references and believable dating. I will also opine that another strength of the book is that of the excellence of the collection it depicts; usually what I will describe mostly as the top end of what was attainable to a very serious modern collector in the last fifty years. The book starts out with three essays: How Old is the Katar? Saadat Khan Bahadur, the First Nawab of Oudh Royal Katars of Bundi These are followed by the collection's catalog in four main sections: Daggers, Katars, Swords and Miscellaneous Total pages: 368