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Posted

Anyone who does not already have the eSwordsmiths and eEncyclopedia books should grab them immediately. I refer to them constantly.

Posted

Thomas - thanks for the heads up. Just bought Swordsmiths of Japan and the books on identifying Japanese cursive and seal script.

 

John C.

  • Like 1
Posted

Placed an order for 7 books. There is a difference between seeing and seeing & understanding. Good reference sources are key for the latter, as well as attending meetings to discuss specific blades and fittings.

Hope my HD has enough memory :)

  • Like 3
Posted

@Markus
Don't forget to post these specials here on the forum too. We can't always rely on people stumbling across them and posting it here.
As you can see, it bears fruit ;-)

  • Like 3
  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

I rarely buy ebooks as I generally find them less satisfying to use and read, but I took advantage of this sale a week or so ago to buy the Meikan and Swordsmiths ebooks (amongst others), and I'm actually really impressed by how useful the format is for references/data. Not only can you search the entire pdf using ctrl+f (which is very useful for finding references to particular swordsmiths), but you are also able to zoom in on mei and other characters, which makes it a lot easier to compare the kanji.

 

Thanks for people mentioning it on this and another thread, or I would have missed out on this :)

  • Like 5
Posted

If you don't own any of these books, you should! Markus has done an outstanding job putting these together. Collectors and enthusiast today are so lucky to have so much information available in English. It hasn't been that long ago that there were only a few basic beginners books in English by Robinson, Yumoto, and Hawley. Then AFU, Harry Watson translated and published a few welcomed titles such as the Nihonto Koza 6 volumes, and the Translations of Fujishiro's. Then Nagayamas Connoisseurs Book of Japanese Sword hit the stands and was a welcome addition. 

 

Markus has made many titles available in English, both hard copies and e-versions.

 

E-books are great once you start using them. I was a hold out, a die-hard who believed in only having real books, hard copies. And I still like the hard copies, however the ease of use with the e-books will convince the hardest of hard asses of their value. As pointed out above using the search function makes thumbing through pages much reduced. With 99% of research, I start with Markus's e-books, and while I may still follow up with hard copy references such as the many Taikans, I find the e-books invaluable.

 

 

  • Like 2
Posted
2 hours ago, Ed said:

If you don't own any of these books, you should! Markus has done an outstanding job putting these together. Collectors and enthusiast today are so lucky to have so much information available in English. It hasn't been that long ago that there were only a few basic beginners books in English by Robinson, Yumoto, and Hawley. Then AFU, Harry Watson translated and published a few welcomed titles such as the Nihonto Koza 6 volumes, and the Translations of Fujishiro's. Then Nagayamas Connoisseurs Book of Japanese Sword hit the stands and was a welcome addition. 

 

Markus has made many titles available in English, both hard copies and e-versions.

 

E-books are great once you start using them. I was a hold out, a die-hard who believed in only having real books, hard copies. And I still like the hard copies, however the ease of use with the e-books will convince the hardest of hard asses of their value. As pointed out above using the search function makes thumbing through pages much reduced. With 99% of research, I start with Markus's e-books, and while I may still follow up with hard copy references such as the many Taikans, yet I find the e-books invaluable.

 

 

Yes, I have already gleened some interesting research leads for my new sword after reading up about Yamato and Soshu Gokaden. Invaluable is the correct word.

  • Thanks 1
Posted
On 9/3/2024 at 8:40 PM, Markus said:

@Brian Will be back later this fall on a more regular basis here 👍

 

Please do so.

I somehow missed this sale while busy with life. There are two or three I'd like to pick up once I clean out some shelf space.

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