Ethnographic Arms & Armour
 

Go Back   Ethnographic Arms & Armour > Discussion Forums > Keris Warung Kopi

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Old 27th September 2024, 08:56 PM   #1
awdaniec666
Member
 
awdaniec666's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2021
Location: Central Europe
Posts: 167
Lightbulb Looking for beginners guide to Keris

Hi!

Some of you may already noticed that there is a project called "The Gladiological" which I recently found - it´s an online magazine about swords from all over the world basically. We already have plenty of articles about European and Near Eastern swords, but looking at the masses of information in this specific subforum I cannot pass without asking if there is anybody here who would be keen to pass on his/her knowledge about Keris for people like me who are pretty much unfamiliar about this kind of sword in a "beginners guide" for the magazine.

If you are interested, please get in touch via our website (www.thegladiological.com) or private message here!

Patrick
awdaniec666 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 28th September 2024, 12:22 AM   #2
A. G. Maisey
Member
 
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 6,895
Default

Patrick, I've had a look at this site, and I would appreciate your further comments.

It seems to me that the objective of this site is to provide a place for the online publication of writings --- ie, articles or whatever --- that deal with edged weaponry.

Am I correct or am I incorrect?

Perhaps the compilation of a directory of online sources of information related to edged weaponry might be a worthwhile project?
A. G. Maisey is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 28th September 2024, 08:53 AM   #3
milandro
Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2022
Location: Netherlands
Posts: 477
Default

there are many books and there are many scholarly articles, but these days information on line is what works the best.

Personally I find that there have been, over the years, some sites from which I got much help and information.

One is certainly http://old.blades.free.fr, admittedly the navigation isn't very intuitive but once you get to explore this you will get a lot of information, please explore (as I said the exploration isn't as intuitive as it may be), there is a LOT there not only on krises but also other edged weapons from the area and way beyond
milandro is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 29th September 2024, 11:10 AM   #4
awdaniec666
Member
 
awdaniec666's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2021
Location: Central Europe
Posts: 167
Default

Hi A.G., Hi Milandro,

thank you for replying!

- The Site is mainly about edged weapons and I will implement noswonogus too (not swords and not guns, like axes and spears).
- A list of links is probably something for forums like this one. I made the Glad primarily because I love to write.
- I personally will not research Keris swords, and wonÂ’t write about them. I am looking for somebody who knows about the topic and likes to write something basic for readers with different interests than Keris.
- Thanks for the sources. I will check them.

Such articles are ideal for people who are just curious what a certain topic offers but do not intend to collect those swords and spend hours into research. ItÂ’s supposed to be an excourse, a glimpse over the edge. I was once asked if we pay our authors - the whole project is being resized in our free time and is not even non-profit, but non-financial, we practically loose money by making everything available for free and like to write and share knowledge. But we cannot cover every type of swords on earth with our small team. Maybe I wasnÂ’t clear enough
awdaniec666 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30th September 2024, 08:53 AM   #5
milandro
Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2022
Location: Netherlands
Posts: 477
Default

Cheers! If I were you I'd still give it a go and contact the person whom seems to be running that site



Dominique Buttin

dbuttin@hotmail.com


here his biography


http://old.blades.free.fr/utilities/biography.htm
milandro is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30th September 2024, 05:56 PM   #6
David
Keris forum moderator
 
David's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Nova Scotia
Posts: 7,126
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by awdaniec666 View Post
Hi A.G., Hi Milandro,

thank you for replying!

- The Site is mainly about edged weapons and I will implement noswonogus too (not swords and not guns, like axes and spears).
- A list of links is probably something for forums like this one. I made the Glad primarily because I love to write.
- I personally will not research Keris swords, and wonÂ’t write about them. I am looking for somebody who knows about the topic and likes to write something basic for readers with different interests than Keris.
- Thanks for the sources. I will check them.

Such articles are ideal for people who are just curious what a certain topic offers but do not intend to collect those swords and spend hours into research. ItÂ’s supposed to be an excourse, a glimpse over the edge. I was once asked if we pay our authors - the whole project is being resized in our free time and is not even non-profit, but non-financial, we practically loose money by making everything available for free and like to write and share knowledge. But we cannot cover every type of swords on earth with our small team. Maybe I wasnÂ’t clear enough
I willl say this in regards to what you are looking for. For many years there has been quite a bit of questionable or even straight out false information circulated about keris, some online and some in books which were accepted collector guides for decades. Some incorrect informations seems to be constantly recirculated from older texts and dealers love to use unsubstantiated stories about keris to increase the intrigue surrounding the stock that they are selling. At the same time it should be understood that the keris is many things to many people and coming to concise conclusions on certain aspects of this cultural icon can be quite impossible at times. In this way it is quite unlike any other edged weapon i am aware of. So before you post an article on your site i would suggest that you vet it well in various forums to avoid adding to the noise of misinformation that has followed the study of keris for many years. It is a very complicated subject and difficult at best to sumarize in a short basic article. Best of luck to you!
David is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30th September 2024, 11:39 PM   #7
A. G. Maisey
Member
 
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 6,895
Default

David, what you have written here is, I believe, very true. I think of the matter itself as being a bit of a Catch 22 situation:-

there is a tremendous quantity of information about keris (& other things) available on the net, but you need to already be an expert to be able to separate the gold from the clay.

If one were to put in 20 or 30 years or so of dedicated study & research from traditional sources and then to tackle the net & the hodge-podge of ignorance, misinformation & just plain lies that we find there, then that person might be able to have some sort of understanding of the subject.

If one is already educated in the subject of keris, then the net can become a very valuable resource, if one is still in kindergarten, well, I reckon one is likely to drown before graduation day.

That is where a Forum such a this one can really help, at its best this Forum can help clarify understandings and show a path forward for both the dedicated & casual student.

As for a simple primer on keris, I personally like David van Duuren's "The Kris", maybe somebody might like to compress this into a 5K word essay?

Then we have two really valuable printed books, bibliographies, one by Timothy Rogers, one by David van Duuren. They seldom get mentioned, but these two books are a truly invaluable resource for any serious student of the keris, or in Timothy's case, any serious student of the weaponry of the Malay World.

But to return to the subject of Patrick's invitation. I think that this new initiative that he has drawn our attention to could perhaps provide a place for publication of writings in the field, however, unless provision were to be made for review & commentary on those writings, then there could be a danger of more misleading information becoming available that could perhaps add to an already confusing environment.
A. G. Maisey is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 1st October 2024, 06:22 PM   #8
Pendita65
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2023
Location: Amsterdam
Posts: 99
Default

Dear Mr. Maisey,

can i ask for the complete titel of the book by Timothy Rogers i was unable to find it on the internet.

Regards, Martin
Pendita65 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 1st October 2024, 07:11 PM   #9
awdaniec666
Member
 
awdaniec666's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2021
Location: Central Europe
Posts: 167
Default

Dear David, Dear A.G,

thanks again. Your comments slowly shed light on the nature of this topic for me.

I´ll just leave this invitation here - if there will be somebody one day to write an essay about the Keris - he or she is very much invited to get in touch. The Gladiological is always open for articles of this kind.

One of you said something very important: The review of articles. This is a difficult thing to accomplish when a "exotic" topic shall be released and there is nobody in the editorial team to check things for correctness. In this case we must rely on readers´feedback and publish either a corrected version of the original article or publish the feedbacks. Either way, the possibility of commenting below articles on our website is there - it just needs to be used much more
awdaniec666 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 1st October 2024, 07:18 PM   #10
awdaniec666
Member
 
awdaniec666's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2021
Location: Central Europe
Posts: 167
Default

And thank you milandro for that hint! Saw it afterwards.
awdaniec666 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 1st October 2024, 10:20 PM   #11
A. G. Maisey
Member
 
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 6,895
Default

Martin:-

"An annotated bibliography of Indonesian, Filipino & Malay Edged Weapons"
T. D. Rogers, C Zwartenkop Art Books -- Leiden, 2015, ISBN/EAN 978-90-5450-014-8

This is a truly excellent & truly valuable reference source, as the title implies, it is not just a list of books, in incorporates other printed matter & provides a brief commentary on each item listed.

Timothy was a librarian working at the Bodleian library in Oxford, I think his title was "Librarian in Charge of Medieval Manuscripts", his work is meticulous & impeccable, this book took him many years to write.
A. G. Maisey is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 2nd October 2024, 07:17 PM   #12
Pendita65
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2023
Location: Amsterdam
Posts: 99
Default

Mr. Maisey,

thank you so much for the info, will have a look at the book next time when i am at the Wereldmuseum Leiden.

Regards, Martin
Pendita65 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 4th October 2024, 03:23 PM   #13
HughChen
Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2024
Location: China
Posts: 150
Default

Are there any available electronic books that have passed their copyright protection period?
HughChen is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 07:09 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Posts are regarded as being copyrighted by their authors and the act of posting material is deemed to be a granting of an irrevocable nonexclusive license for display here.