Friday, November 26, 2010

New book on jousting -- already out of stock!

Ever since I started actively researching chivalry and formal deeds of arms (jousts, tournaments, duels, and challenges), I have been aware of Noel Fallows' work on Iberian chivalry.  He's the go-to guy in the English language and the articles I've read are very thorough.

Now he's put together a monster book including 200 illustrations and the texts and translations of three late medieval/early modern treatises to create what will probably be, for a long time, the definitive work on the subject of jousting in a part of Europe often overlooked by people who don't live there.

If you are a jousting fan, don't tell me that this publisher's description doesn't make your mouth water:

It focuses on three jousting manuals, written by practising champions at the time: Ponç de Menaguerra's Lo Cavaller (`The Knight', 1493); Juan Quijada de Reayo's Doctrina del arte de la cavalleria (`Doctrine of the Art of Chivalry', 1548); and Luis Zapata's Del Justador (`On the Jouster', c.1589-93). As well as editions, with the first English translation, of these important texts, it includes introductions and an analytical study; there are also chapters on the arms and armour of the joust. Nearly 200 colour and black-and-white illustrations, many never previously published, illuminate the sometimes complex technical terminology of these authors, and provide further evidence of how weapons and armour were actually used.
There's just one problem, a temporary one I  hope:  the book, published this month, seems to be out of stock already!  (You can back order.)  Somebody thought the book would sell, but not this fast.

Hats off to Professor Fallows and Boydell and Brewer.

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