Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 5).djvu/132

 and the wilder nations of Northern Europe and of the Near East. We sincerely hope, however, that a careful study of our illustrations will enable armour-students to trace a real line of developing sequence. The author knows too well that more erudite books have been written on the subject of arms and of armour. No one realizes his lack of scholarship more than himself, but he thinks that he can claim that no one has written on the subject quite on the same lines as those of the present work. The author has not attempted to deal with the theory of body armour and of offensive weapons, but simply endeavoured to allow actual examples, the best of their kind that the ravaging hand of time has left as witnesses, to relate their history in picture form. From the middle of the XVth century to the third quarter of the XVIIth the author has aimed at illustrating the most representative of each particular class of harness known to him, giving his views as to its approximate date, its possible maker, and, where attainable, its provenance. The author has loved collecting, and his work has been his pleasure. He hopes that his book will be of interest and value to the collector; for it gives representations of armour and of weapons full of interest either from their historical interest or from their beauty of form or workmanship. To examine the originals of these illustrations would involve much travelling and no little perseverance. They are here brought together in picture form, selected from a large series of photographs which the author has wandered far and wide to secure, and his descriptions are from notes in almost every case taken by him on the spot. Forgiveness is asked if much that is fine and representative is omitted. The author frankly confesses that certain national collections are, alas, unknown to him. The contents of the Tsarkoe-Selo of Petrograd have never been examined; neither has the wonderful armoury of Dresden been visited. So, too, the treasures of many of the fine semi-private collections in Germany and Austria still hold secrets which he has yearned to discover. Our own country again is so rich in armour and weapons, housed in our national armouries and in obscure private collections, and our churches still possess so many wonderful specimens, that we have found it quite impossible to take note of every extant example. Finally, the author desires again to thank all those who have helped him to compile this history of armour and arms. Many are his personal friends. To all he owes a great debt of gratitude, not only for their courtesy, but also for their knowledge, so generously imparted to him. They have spared no trouble to send him any photograph, pedigree, or description of any piece of armour or of any weapon to help him in his study of the subject of this work.