As a sporting event engaged in by commoner and king alike, the hunt was a mentally and physically invigorating experience, providing all the danger and excitement of battle without the accompanying cost of human life. Until the publication of this book, however, there were few-if any-works devoted exclusively to the weapons of the hunt. That deficiency is remedied here with this detailded, comprehensive account of swords, knives, bayonets, staves, bows, crossbows, guns, and other hunting weapons dating from the Middle Ages to modern times.

Over 280 contemporary illustrations and woodcuts, as well as more recent photographs, catalog a wide array of arms-from the spear thrown by a Roman hunter and the medieval broad arrow used to hunt wild boar to a harpoon gun fired by whalers and the rifle used to clear buffalo from railroad tracks in the 19th century. Here also are illustrations of a hunting sword belonging to Maximillian I (1496), a Swiss hunting knife (c. 1355), a German barrel crossbow (c.1720), an Indian pig spear with percussion pistol (c. 1850), a Winchester rifle (1876), and a host of other weapons.

An indispensable reference for collectors, this profusely illustrated volume will also be welcomed by students of weaponry and anyone intrigued by antique instruments of the hunt and their use.