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Old 28th August 2020, 12:12 AM   #6
Jim McDougall
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Location: Route 66
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I am also anxious to see the second volume published, but I have not heard anything more either. I have Volume I which is of course instrumental in understanding early development of these swords, but the second volume I hoped would reveal nuances of properly identifying and classifying the basket hilts of 17th century +. I think there were supposed to be three volumes.
The cost of these promised to be expensive (Vol. I when it can be found around 500 bucks).

Sir Richard Burton when he passed in 1890, the sequel to his first book, "The Book of the Sword" (1885) had not been completed, nor in fact assembled in any particular order. As an obsessive researcher on swords myself life long, he was sort of an icon to me of course. For some years I wondered what became of his notes, and knew that his wife Isabel had burned some of them, but these were apparently related to some of the more 'exotic' material he had written on.

I finally found the notes in a California museum, and obtained permission to see them. The curator was intrigued by my interest in what turned out to be file boxes of hand written notes with drawings pinned to the pages, and in the tiniest penciled wording imaginable.

I had found that these notes were essentially the manuscript pages from the original 'Book of the Sword', but it would seem that the sheaves of pages were shuffled loosely in the boxes but not in particular order.
It was said that colleagues along with his wife tried to assemble a second volume from these copious notes, but gave up when it proved futile.

I am hoping that the notes of the Baron do not meet this fate, but am not sure who would be up to the task, or have the time, tenacity and resources to complete this. It would have to be someone with deep understanding of the arcane nuances of these Scottish swords.

Last edited by Jim McDougall; 28th August 2020 at 04:26 PM.
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