CHAPTER 20: THE DEMON BARBER
1. Emil Beck, Tauberbischofsheimer Fechtlektionem (Bartels & Wernitz, 1978).
2. Richard Moll, Die Fecht-Legende von Tauberbischofsheim (Laub, 1987).
3. René Roche, in conversation with the author, February 15, 2002.
EPILOGUE: BY WAY OF THE SWORD
1. James Graham, Marquis of Montrose, My Dear and Only Love (c. 1640) in The Collected Poems of James Graham, First Marquis of Montrose, ed. Robin Graham Bell (New York: David Lewis, 1970).
2. C. L. de Beaumont, “1950 World Championships,” American Fencing, October 1950, p. 8.
AFTERWORD
1. Cf. Richard F. Mould, Mould’s Medical Anecdotes: Omnibus Edition (Bristol, U.K.: Institute of Physics Publishing, 1996), pp. 185, 324, 371.
2. Cf. an eyewitness account in Illustrated London News for July 13, 1888.
3. Vladimir Nabokov, Speak, Memory (New York: Putnam, 1966), pp. 181, 188–193.
4. Letters of Vincent van Gogh (New York: New York Graphic Society, 1958), vol. 3, p. 122; cf. also The Intimate Journals of Paul Gauguin (New York: Dover, 1997), p. 107 ff.
5. Arthur Conan Doyle, Memories and Adventures (Boston: Little, Brown, 1924), p. 287.
6. Lieutenant Commander Glenn Kerr, Australian Army Journal, vol. 2, no. 1, 2003, pp. 287–8.
7. For an excellent counterargument, cf. Clements, John, “What Did Historical Swords Weigh?” and “The Weighty Issue of Two-Handed Great-swords,” website of Arma, the Association for Renaissance Martial Arts.
8. Sander L. Gilman, ed., Conversations with Nietzsche: A Life in the Words of His Contemporaries (New York: Oxford University Press, 1987), pp. 22–3.
During my years working as a book editor, the “acknowledgment pages” were most often a last-minute chore, along with checking the dedication and bibliography, the contents page and the index, the “bumph” that make up the editorial packaging of any book. It is only now, realizing the quantity and quality of help that I have obtained in writing this, my own first book, that I am fully aware of the extraordinary help authors are given. This manuscript certainly would not have existed without the generosity and wisdom, often over several months, of a vast range of people, and whatever I add in the next few lines cannot do justice to what I have received from them.
On a general plane, I want to thank Göram Abramsson, the late Ella Adler, Christoph Amberger, Bob Anderson, Stuart Applebaum, Clare Viscountess Asquith, Albert Axelrod, Péter Bakonyi, Emil Beck, Matthias Behr, Stefan Bellone, Daniel Bermond, Jacek Bierkowski, Stefanie Bierwerth, Oliver Biggadike, Robert Blum, Enis Boar, Robert Bookman, Carl Borack, Margaret Brown, Logan Browning, Kevin Brownlow, Wilma Caraley, Betsy Carter, Leonard Chase, Ben Cheever, Eric Chinski, Anders Cohen, Janet, Lady Cooksey, Chris Coppens, Andrew Cornford, Dr. Raymond Crawfurd, Manette Cuenin, Gregor Dallas, John and Nina Darnton, Sandor David, Raffaella de Angelis, Gianfranco della Barba, Ferenc Denes, Mark Derez, Vassil Etropolski, Nick Evangelista, Jochen Farber, Fritz Fitting, Thomas Fleming, Jim Fox, Lady Antonia Fraser, Peter Frohlich, René Geuna, Sir Martin Gilbert, Eva and Janos Glakowski, William Goldman, Wolfgang Gorke, Valerie Grove, Mark Gumley, Dr. Clare Halsted, Stephen Hand, John Harlow, Barna Heder, Cornelia Hanisch, Jorge Herralde, William Hobbs, Courtney Hodell, Gary Hoenig, Anthony Holden, Bill Hoskyns, Edgar House, Peter Jacobs, Allan Jay, Dom Philip Jebb, Paul Jenkins, Charles Kaiser, Susan Kamil, Dr. Jeno Kamuti, Dr. Czeslaw Karkowski, Jack Keane, Alexander Kerekes, Joe Klein, Walter Köestner, Aladar Kogler, the late Oscar Kolombatovitch, Janek Koniusz, Rick Kot, Jean-François Lamour, Wolfgang Langer, Karl Lennartz, Elisabeth Lensing, Ingrid Losert, Roland Losert, Mary S. Lovell, Boris Lukomski, Linda McCollum, Guido Malacarne, Claudio M. Mancini, Eduardo Mangiarotti, Monica Martin, Alice Mayhew, the late Micky Meszena, Edmund Morris, Alexander Mosley, David Nasaw, László Nedeczky, Christian d’Oriola, Chaba Palaguy, Ryszard Parulski, Barry Paul, Graham Paul, Steve Paul, Petia Tersieva Pavlova, Jerzy and Iwonka Pawłowski, Nicolo Perno, Alan Petty, Tibor Pezsa, Laszlo Pongo, Ioan Pop, Michael Proudfoot, Dietrich and Guido Quanz, Mark Rakita, Gunnar Redmalm, Kari Reinhart, Béla Rerrich, Réne Roch, Zina Rohan, Martha Roselli, Ron Rosenbaum, Professor John Sanders, Lutz Schirmacher, Arnd Schmitt, Dr. Ulrich Schulke, Carl Schwende, Andy Shaw, Christo Smirnenski, Robert Spaething, Libby Spurrier, Linden Stafford, Thomas Staley, Susan Tifft, Mario Trimble, Margaret Truman, Wolf-Peter Unshelm, Peter Urban, Patrick Vajda, Paul-Claude Wackermann, Derek Ware, Peter Westbrook, Francis Wheen, Catherine Whitaker, Maciej Wierzynski, Robert Winton, David Wise, Ziemek Woldiekowski, Witek Woyda, Ralph Zimmerman, and Dr. Francis Zold. I have also enjoyed the camaraderie and complicity of the fencers at the New York Athletic Club.
Among the libraries and other institutions that have assisted me, the New York Public Library has been my constant workplace. “Swords” itself has 241 entries, “Fencing” 261, and “Duel” 523. There are eleven books to consult on dueling legislation alone. The University Library at Louvain has an even larger specialist holding, thanks to the late Archie Corble. I have also consulted the Stadt Bibliothek, Cologne; the Toledo Museum; the Huntington Library, Pasadena; the Churchill Archive, Cambridge; the Harry S Truman Library, Independence, Missouri; the U.S. Military Academy, West Point; the Harry S. Ransom Center, Austin; the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris; the Film Library of the Museum of Modern Art, New York (with particular thanks to Charles Silver); the London Library; and the Victoria and Albert Museum, where Anthony North was especially helpful.
I am grateful to HarperCollins and to Toby Eady Associates for permission to quote from Bernard Cornwell, Sharpe’s Waterloo; to Laureate Press, for permission to quote from Aldo Nadi, The Living Sword; to Seven Stones Press, for permission to quote from Peter Westbrook and Tej Hazarika, Harnessing Anger; and to Grove Press, for permission to quote from Jerzy Kosinski, Blind Date.
During the course of research I traveled to twelve countries, and relied on friends to translate texts for me. On Italy’s history Franco Luxardo in Padua and Paolo Roselli in New York were of immeasurable help. Wolfgang Marzodko in Germany and Wojciech Zabłocki and Zbigniew Czajkowski in Poland were valuable critics as well as general facilitators, as were Daniel Marciano and Gerrard Six in France and László Jacob on Hungarian history. Nicolas Halsted helped my schoolboy French over several hurdles, while Richard Gradkowski and Jeffrey R. Tishman kept a firm eye on my historical lapses. Joel Glucksman gave important advice on matters literary and cinematic and Marius Valsamis on medical and other issues too numerous to mention. The chapter on Helene Mayer could not have been written without the help of Milly Mogulof. Sonny Mehta first urged me to write a history of swordplay. “Take risks,” he said. Malcolm Fare read the manuscript when it was over eight hundred pages long, yet still persevered and has helped me at every stage of its writing. Presiding over all, in matters great and small, has been Timothy Dickinson, whose vast knowledge and wonderful enthusiasm have improved this book in every way: I cannot thank him enough.
I have been fortunate in my publishers, both in New York and in London. Ann Godoff first commissioned the book and has kept a watching brief on its progress throughout. Joy de Menil has, all too literally, put her back into ensuring that I learned what it was like to be properly edited; and Barbara Bachman has been a marvelous designer. Robin Rolewicz, Joy’s assistant, patiently dealt with the peculiar neuroses of an ex-publisher/author. At Macmillan in London, Jeremy Trevathan’s calm confidence bolstered me during my moments of doubt, and one by one, it seems, his staff would sidle into his office to confess that they, too, had once fenced: an ideal fifth column. The Robbins Office—David, John, Sandy, Summer, Bob, and Edward—have become past masters of riposte and counterriposte, while their boss, Kathy Robbins, has managed to combine the roles of agent, author’s spouse, faith healer, psychiatrist, entertainment officer, financial overseer, soothsayer, and best friend in a way that I know is unique. I have been, and am, very lucky.
Notwithstanding all the assistance listed above, ther
e are sure to be lacunae, mistakes, and other shortcomings in this book. As any past fencer will quickly recognize, such errors are solely the responsibility and fault of … the referee.
Richard Cohen, New York, May 2002
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
RICHARD COHEN is the former publishing director of Hutchinson and of Hodder & Stoughton and the founder of Richard Cohen Books. Five times U.K. national saber champion, he was selected for the British Olympic team in 1972, 1976, 1980, and 1984. He won the Veteran Saber World Championship in 2004 and 2005 and is the current European Veterans champion. He has written for The New York Times, ESPN, and Departures, as well as for most leading London newspapers. Chasing the Sun, a cultural and scientific history of the Sun, will be published in 2009. He lives in New York City with his wife, Kathy.
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