This book is the first English translation of Fiore de' Liberi's "Fior di Battaglia," the 1409 swordsmanship and martial arts text that is the oldest extant in the Italian tradition. The book survives in four known manuscripts. One of them, housed at the Getty museum in Los Angeles, CA, is held to be the most complete, and is the basis of this translation. Writing for an audience of illustrious students including the powerful marquis Nicolo' d' Este, Fiore presents detailed instruction on wrestling as well as the use of several weapons including longsword, axe, dagger, staff, lance and others. Fiore's text has been translated by experienced historical martial artist Tom Leoni of the Order of the Seven Hearts and reviewed by Maestro Sean Hayes of the Northwest Academy of Arms and by Greg Mele of the Chicago Swordplay Guild. Fourth revision. Text only.
"Great Translation" First, as noted above, the original version had one page which was erroneously left in Italian; however, that was quickly fixed (for those who have the first version, the English is available on the author's web page here: http://www.salvatorfabris.com/errata/ERRATA-27-RECTO.pdf The quality of this translation is quite good and accurately conveys the feel of the writing as well as the meaning. This is by far the best and most accurate English translation of this work available. If you are a practitioner of swordsmanship, you will not be disappointed.
"Re: Great translation except for one page..." The problem has been fixed in the second revision a couple weeks after the book came out. That page is available for download here: www.salvatorfabris.com. Tom Leoni
