Beschreibung:

Edged Weapons Manuscript Catalogue. An archive of 51 spring-backed loose leaf volumes of original historical research and descriptions of swords, daggers, shafted weapons, etc., from 1600 to World War Two, compiled by A[rthur] N[oel] Ingram of Ewell, Epsom, Surrey, circa 1950, each volume containing between 100 and 200 leaves of typed (and some manuscript) notes and detailed and annotated pencil drawings of sword hilts, etc., numerous additional notes and occasional corrections, unpaginated but arranged systematically to include books or sections on English militia, infantry officers, heavy cavalry officer and non cavalry, bayonets, India, departmental, army pay corps, troopers, battleaxe, pike, etc., occasional printed material tipped in or inserted, leaf versos blank, ownership name of A.N. Ingram to front pastedowns of many volumes, contemporary cloth of varied colours, slightly rubbed and soiled, 8vo (Qty: 51) A monumental, unpublished work by the seemingly unknown Arthur Noel Ingram (1889-1960). Ingram served in the 4th Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment during World War One, being appointed Second Lieutenant on 14 October 1914. He was appointed Lieutenant with the Royal Regiment of Artillery on 18 December 1940 and Captain on 4 February 1941. In an initialled preface dated at Ewell, 1951, Ingram describes the scope of work: 'The object of this series of books, the first complete one of its kind, is to place on record an authentic and comprehensive catalogue of the swords used by our fighting men from the year 1600 AD to the present day... the author has been engaged in research for the last twenty-five years, and no illustration or detail appears which has not been taken from the actual weapon, and where the specimen is known to exist, that has not yet been examined, a space is left vacant, as it is hoped that some at any rate will eventually come to light and enable an illustration to be made and details ascertained for publication in supplement form subsequently. Further volumes will deal with - Household, Heavy, and Light Cavalry, Artillery, Infantry, Light Troops and Light Officers, Departmental, Bayonets, Band Swords and Swords of the East India Company'. Ingram acknowledges the friends who have assisted with the project, 'Particularly to Sir James Man, who made research at the Tower of London a real pleasure, the Library of the Royal United Services Institution, G.W. Latham Esq., of Wilkinson Sword Company, and to my very great friends Captain Newgent Bosanquet, CVO, RN and S. Dudley Ward whose invaluable help has made this work possible'. In a loose typed three-page preface Ingram notes: 'This work is altogether not intended as a comprehensive treatise, but primarily as a help to those collectors who may have acquired a piece which they prize as an exquisite work of art, but have no knowledge of the date of its manufacture, or the country of its origin, also whether it is in its complete form or whether a piece of the hilt is missing or - a question that occurs frequently - whether the shortness in the blade is due to accident or design, or what type of scabbard belongs to it'.