Wallace collection's new exhibition.

Some things are bittersweet and the exhibition downstairs at the Wallace is one of those bittersweet things. My main criticism about it is... well, it's too small. This is not to say that it's a bad exhibition- in fact, exactly the opposite. The aim of the exhibition is to outline the relationship between Europe and its swords. Demonstrating that fashion and violence are intermingled and even the most jeweled and poncy swords are fatal. I would like to have seen a few more common swords, and.. well.. I guess just a lot more of the exhibition. It is well worth going just for the sword porn. Lots of rapiers, one basket hilt sword and a brief outline of the previous eras of swordiness. However, the greatest part is being able to seeing some of the original manuscripts. It helps add a bit of weight to the academic aspect of what we do- most of us may be working from scans found on the internet but it helps to remember that these are real books, written centuries ago. They have the three oldest known books on fighting- the I.33, and two of the German longsword things (I think, sorry but that's not my field of interest) The other books- they have a Saviolo and a Silver, Thibault (with a square of death by the entrance), a couple of things that I recognize from Hutton's "Old Masters" but couldn't tell you who they were now. It was incredibly frustrating being that close to such important books and unable to look through them- even though most of them are in foreign and I wouldn't be able to understand anything beyond how pretty the pictures are and what these books mean for a contextual understanding of historical events. If you can plan your visit to coincide with a talk by Mr Capwell, I heartily suggest you do. Maybe en mass so that the talk can lean more along the lines of fighting rather than fashion. Oh, and did I mention that this is a free exhibition in the heart of London. http://www.wallacecollection.org/collections/exhibition/93 In short- great exhibition, tonnes of sword porn and given the wealth and interest of what is on display, it must have been a nightmare trying to decide what to leave out.