Nice Book on Bayonets

I got a nice book on bayonets today for the beginning collector. It's called "An Illustrated History of Bayonets" by Martin J Brayley. Large format, paperback by Krause Publications is currently out of print but still available for a reasonable price from used dealers. Found mine on ebay. May be reprinted soon as a few sites were advertising it as being available again in a couple of months.

I say beginner collectors because it does not go into a lot of detail with manufactures, dates or markings. It does have excellent photos of most bayonets and their scabbards along with many period photos of them attached to rifles or being used in some other way. It also goes into historical descriptions of the bayonets and their development. Advanced collectors might like it just for the photos.

As this seems to be a tough hobby to find written information that's affordable, might be worth checking into it to see if it might suit you.

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Originally Posted by Aragorn243

As this seems to be a tough hobby to find written information that's affordable

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I agree that bayonet book do tend to run on the expensive side, but I buy every book on the subject that I can find. Early on in my collecting career I was of the opinion that I'd rather use the money to buy another bayonet but now I feel just the opposite. The knowledge you gain from the books is a great investment, one that can save you a considerable amount of money in the long run. And the books themselves are a good investment. Examples: Watts & White "The Bayonet Book" retailed for $50 new, now sells for $400-500. I've seen copies of Larry Johnson's "The Japanese Bayonet" sell for as much as $500 ($45 new). That's not to say that every book will appreciate in value like that, but the information alone is worth the purchase price. Knowledge is power.

I have tried to keep up with every book that comes out and my current library - at least according to my bibliography page - runs to 160+. Learnt my lesson about buying new when i filled in my missing Keisling and the one missing volume cost me more than the original set woudl have. If you are looking for a good book that is better than Janzen but still general try the new reprint of Keislings, it takes the 4 original volumes and puts it into one book by country with some extra info. Next after that woudl be the ABC series, only problem really with these is that they are French language and at least in volume 3 very French biased. I have tried to be honest on my revues of the books in my bibliography, all have a use - althought a couple maybe only as table levelers.