Book Review - Travels with Daggers (adventures in collecting) by Eiler R. Cook

[Jerry Oksman]

Book Review - Travels with Daggers (adventures in collecting) by Eiler R. Cook

I little digression before I even begin. We (by this I mean the knife community, not the royal we or the Jerry's inflated ego we ) are a very small group, spread out over a very big globe (or small world after all, depending upon your point of view, but I digress, again) and it's kind of funny that I heard about this book, written by a North Carolinian, from a Bostonian, whom I met while she was helping a Swede at one of the NY knife shows. Isn't the internet grand! OK so I have a strange sense of humor, I'm a Nu Yawker, so sue me. I would like to thank Margareta Lidskog (our fearless Bostonian) as she is the one who pointed this book out to me. Another thing, except for the 5 minutes I spent on the phone ordering this book I have no other knowledge of the author (well, except from the book and the promo flier). So for me to give this the thumbs up (and I do give it the thumbs up) means I actually like it not for any other reason.

On with the book. This is really a book about collecting as much as it is about the knives, so if your looking for a spec sheet this isn't it. It is very much about once persons love affair with knife collecting and the travels that enabled him to enjoy this hobby. Reading it (I haven't finished yet only got through to chapter 6) you get a great feel for the history of the later half of the 20th century and one man's role within that time. This is a large coffee table type book, with 300 pages and 288 illustrations (photos and sketches). The photo's are great and could be a boon to anyone trying to make historical reproductions. I personally enjoy the prose and like the fact that this is not just a knife book. There is all this background (yeah world history) going on behind the scenes (right) of knife collecting. In all it's well worth the $50. (plus shipping)

This is straight from the flier;
"The author is a retired Foreign Service Officer (1947-1980) whose duties as a diplomatic courier and a political officer carried him to diplomatic posts around the world. A World War II Marine Corps veteran, he remained in the reserves as an intelligence officer, retiring as a lieutenant colonel. He attended UNC at Chapel Hill and the University of Stockholm and graduated from Harvard. He is a staff correspondent for Knife World. He lectures on edged weaponry in the U.S. and abroad."

Here's the contact info if you are interested in your own copy

Historic Edged Weaponry
P.O. Box 851
Hendersonville, NC 28793, USA
Ph: 828-692-0323
Fax: 828-692-0600
Email: histwpn@bellsouth.net

[Buddy Thomason]

Jerry,
Thanks for bringing this book to my (our) attention! Reading your review got the book onto my radar screen initially, then I saw it mentioned in a couple of other places so I decided to buy a copy. Now I'm really glad I did, but it would not have happened had you not made the effort to endorse it here. Folks put information out all the time on TKN and never know if it helps, hurts or makes any kind of difference at all. In this case I wanted you to know your post made a difference and has added to my enjoyment of what, at my house, we refer to as "The Sickness" - referring to collecting knives of course! BT