Caney Lake
April 19, 2009
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
“Louisiana, a state of mind,” the ad copy reads, and so it is. The sweep of the state’s past extends from the seventeenth century under the Sun King Louis XIV through the panoply of colorful and outrageous characters to the events in today’s newspaper. Many authors have sought to capture the scope and spirit of this long stretch of history, extolling a piece here, a piece there, and I am indebted to every one of them. I am particularly grateful for Herbert Asbury’s The French Quarter, where I first saw mentioned the famous maîtres d’armes and their curious place in New Orleans society; for Gumbo Ya-Ya: A collection of Louisiana Folk Tales by Lyle Saxon, Robert Tallant and Edward Dreyer, with its excellent description of the life and customs of the aristocratic French Creoles of the Vieux Carré, as well as the flavor of their speech and their manifold superstitions; for Gentlemen, Swords and Pistols, Harnett T. Kane’s treatise on dueling in the antebellum south; and Louisiana: A Narrative History by Edwin Adams Davis, filled with succinct descriptions of events in various time periods. Eliza Ripley’s Social Life in Old New Orleans; Grace King’s New Orleans: the Place and the People; Stanley Arthur’s Old New Orleans, Albert E. Fossier’s New Orleans: the Glamour Period, 1800–1840, and particularly Benjamin Moore Norman’s famous guidebook written in 1845, Norman’s New Orleans and Environs, were all invaluable.
A number of great volumes on fencing remained close at hand during the writing of the Masters at Arms series. These include The Duel by Francois Billacois, Harnessing Anger, by Peter Westbrook, The Art and Science of Fencing by Nick Evangelista and, most useful of all because of its teaching techniques, On Fencing by Aldo Nadi. I am also most appreciative of the online sites about fencing and historic swords, not to mention the kindness of their owners and visitors in sharing their expertise on a subject I knew little about when I began writing about swordsmen six years ago. Nor can I neglect this opportunity to thank, once more, the staff of the Historic New Orleans Collection and Williams Research center, Chartres Street, New Orleans, for their patience in searching out books, papers and endless rolls of microfilm to feed my craving for historic detail. Librarian Robin Toms and her staff at the Jackson Parish Library, Jonesboro, Louisiana, deserve all praise, too, for keeping me supplied with reading material even in the face of my spotty record for returning it.
Finally, huge thanks are due to the most gentlemanly agent in the book business, Richard Curtis, for his sublime faith in this project; to my lovely editor, Susan Swinwood, for her unfailing support and sensitive editing; and to the art director and production crew at MIRA Books for turning what was only a vision in my mind into a grand reality. They are all the best.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-4762-2
TRIUMPH IN ARMS
Copyright © 2010 by Patricia Maxwell.
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