Since sharpened tools emerged almost one million years ago, edged weapons have played an incredible role in the shaping of human history. This beautifully presented volume traces the history of daggers, knives and bayonets through to the 21st century. The directory features more than 350 examples, from ancient Egyptian flint knives to the rondel and ballock daggers of medieval Europe, and from 17th-century plug bayonets and the Highland dirk to the classic commando knives of World War II. It explores the development of daggers, fighting knives and bayonets from their origins in the Stone Age through to the latest utilitarian and creative designs. With over 700 photographs, the book is an indispensable resource for the serious collector and amateur enthusiast, and will fascinate anyone with an interest in historical weapons.

Jousting is the most iconic form of mounted combat. For more than five hundred years, the sport itself, and the chivalric culture that surrounded it, took on almost mythical qualities. Here, Tobias Capwell explains the glitz and glamour of a sport that attracted enormous popular audiences throughout the late middle ages. Though he deals almost exclusively with weapons and warriors, Capwell tells a story not of war and destruction, but of pageantry and valour. This is the story of the armour of peace. The book forms part of a series of introductions to aspects of the Royal Armouries' collection of arms and armour. Written by specialists in the field, they are packed full of fascinating information and stunning photography. Royal Armouries is the national museum of arms and armour, with sites at Leeds, the Tower of London and Fort Nelson, Hampshire.

'The idea of one form inside another form may owe some of its incipient beginnings to my interest at one stage when I discovered armour. I spent many hours in the Wallace Collection, in London, looking at armour.' Henry Moore, 1980. Coinciding with the major exhibition of the same name, Henry Moore: The Helmet Heads traces the footsteps of the artist through the armouries of the Wallace Collection, where he encountered 'objects of power' that profoundly influenced his work for the rest of his career. Captivated by helmets in particular, Moore saw in them a fundamental form idea - an outer shell which could protect something vulnerable inside. Tobias Capwell identifies the specific helmets which inspired the artist and examines these alongside Moore's sculptures for the very first time. The reasons for his fascination with armour and the implications it had on his art, are explored by Hannah Higham and set in the context of Moore's life and work - one punctuated by global conflicts and artistic experiment. Richly illustrated, this catalogue reveals the origins of some of Henry Moore's most innovative works and examines in depth for the first time this largely unknown aspect of his career.

Painted in 1468, Saint Michael Triumphant over the Devil is the first documented work by Bartolome Bermejo (c. 1440-c. 1501), a 15th-century Spanish artist by whom only about 20 paintings are known. Acquired by the National Gallery in 1995, the painting depicts the Archangel Michael defeating Satan, in the form of a hybrid monster, with Antoni Joan, feudal lord of Tous, kneeling nearby. The work is remarkable for its mastery of the oil-painting technique, influenced by Netherlandish painting and unrivaled by Bermejo's contemporaries in Spain. Following the painting's detailed technical examination and restoration, the authors provide a fascinating account of this rare work, accompanied by high quality new photography and placing the painting in the broader context of Bermejo's career in 15th-century Aragon.

Accompanying a major international exhibition at the Wallace Collection (May-September 2012), this book celebrates this artistic and cultural importance of the sword, as a symbol of power and prestige, as a flamboyant fashion statement and as an icon in the Age of Discovery. It will feature weapons and related works of art from the Wallace Collection as well as other great collections of arms and armour; never-before-seen works on fencing drawn from the library of the 8th Lord Howard de Walden; and portraits, prints and drawings that will help place the Renaissance civilian sword in its social and artistic context. It will also help explore the ancient origins since the first Olympiad of the modern era of 1896, revealing a place in history where art and sport converged.