The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Weaponry: From Flint Axes to Automatic Weapons

The History of Weaponry is a comprehensive look at the tools of battle. More than 500 photographs of genuine specimens were specially commissioned from the 6,000-piece collection of the Berman Museum of World History. The weapons featured span 3,500 years, ranging from Ancient Greece to World War II, and from the Crusades in Europe to the Civil War in the United States and include the traveling pistols of Confederate president Jefferson Davis and a royal Persian scimitar with 1,295 rose-cut diamonds and rubies, and a single 11-carat emerald, set in gold, first owned by Abbas I and given in tribute to Catherine the Great. A variety of rare weapons of espionage and combination curiosa rounds out the selection.The book offers historical perspective, with weaponry on each spread tied to a culture in some significant way, and background on persons significant to the development and advancements of weapons technology or military strategy.