Arms and Armour Through the Ages (Helmut Nickel, Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Helmut Nickel, Arms and Armour Through the Ages.

London: Collins, revised edition, 1971.

Oblong quarto, hard cover, dustwrapper, 121 pages, illustrated.

Dustwrapper worn, gift inscription on the front free endpaper. Good condition.

'From his earliest beginnings Man has had to fight for his survival. Therefore since earliest times some of a man's most prized possessions have been his weapons, and the oldest specialized craft in the history of human civilization is that of the smith, the maker of weapons for hunting and fighting. The things the early smith shaped with hammer and anvil with the help of the divine element, Fire, were regarded with reverent awe, because they were endowed not only with the power to destroy life as weapons but to preserve life too as armour. Great care was taken to fashion these objects not only for efficiency, but for beauty as well. This art of the armourer was so important that the ancient Greeks had a smith, Hephaistos, better known under his Roman name Vulcan, among their gods; and their goddess of wisdom and protectress of the arts, Pallas Athene, was always represented in full armour. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is well equipped to illustrate this aspect of human culture fully. Besides having one of the finest collections in existence of European arms and armour of the Middle Ages, it has outstanding examples from practically every single period of history on display.'

Intended for intelligent younger readers.