My good friend Alex Huangfu of Guangzhou city, China, has written and published a book on Chinese swords... I should be receiving a copy from him over the coming weeks. Will post a review when I get it...

http://www.chinesearms.com/swordbook/swordbook.htm

Pic of the author

Hi, Thomas!

The book seems to be very interesting. Could I buy one?

Alexey

Hi Alexey

You can try ordering the book from United States-based bookstore:
http://www.paragonbook.com/

Title: 《中国刀剑》
Author: 皇甫江
ISBN 978 -7-5332-5358-5
Price: 58 Chinese Yuan
Publisher: 明天出版社
Publisher website: http://www.tomorrowpub.com/index.asp

any chance of an english translation?

If I am not wrong, Alex currently has no plans to publish an English edition...

I searched for this book via the link provided but no joy.

I also did an ixquick.com search and found it being sold on e-Bay. It sold for $58 + shipping.

Zai jian.

Chris

You can email to Paragon Books with the title and the publisher details and ask them if they can order the book from China... I know not of any other Internet bookstore which deals with Chinese books and takes orders and requests in the English language...

Thanks for the info. I've e-mailed a contact in Hong Kong to see if they could pick up a copy for me.

Zai jian.

chris

The latest info is that the initial batch of 6000 copies have already been distributed across China. Alex is now working on the second edition with the latest amendments and revisions...

I have just received my autographed copy from Alex Huangfu. The book is fantastic and hovers over and above my expectations. Virtually every page is saturated and illustrated with colour photos... Some of the highlights of the book in my opinion are when he describes his experience polishing one Han Dynasty jian and one Ming Dynasty dao. He states his appraisal of their workmanship, their edge hardness and flexibility, and compares them relative to Qing Dynasty swords and the Japanese swords he had previously polished...

This book is the first ever full-length treatment in any language on steel swords from the Spring and Autumn Period all the way down to World War Two... At 58 Chinese yuan, and virtually with all pages in colour, it is grossly under-priced in my opinion.

Have this book on my X-Mas shopping list. Look forward to getting it.

Thks for the referral.

chinese sword is different from Japanese one but pretty interesting.驚き両面刃

If anybody still hasn't got one, our Chinese Sword Society is currently running a competition to win a signed copy of the book (kindly donated by Alex Huangfu).

The competiton is free to enter. Closing date for entries is 15th February 2008. You can find full details here.

how unfortunate.

Alex and Lisa do intend to publish an English language edition. They are currently negotiating with publishers. Hopefully, the English version will not be too far away.........

Can this book be bought in Singapore now?

I have been looking forward to this book for quite a long time.