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guywindsor.net/silver

In 1599 George Silver, gentleman, published his Paradoxes of Defence, which lambastes the outlandish (i.e. foreign) Italian rapier fencing that was becoming popular in England, and offers an extraordinary window into the medieval martial arts that the rapier was superceding.

Whatever you think about Silver, or rapier fencing, his book is simply essential reading for all historical martial artists. It is one of the few historical fencing sources that doesn't rely on images, so it struck me that it would make an excellent audiobook. Why not listen to Silver in the car, while cooking, doing housework, or whatever else?

And, why not have him read not only in our modern pronunciation, but also in Original pronunciation?

I hired Jonathan Hartman to do a modern narration, and Ben Crystal to do the Original pronunciation. Renowned historical harpist Andrew Lawrence-King is providing the musical punctuation.

This project provides Silver's work in an accessible format, and an unmissable opportunity to compare and contrast the two versions.

I've put together a crowdfunding campaign to help raise funds to pay for the rest of the work. If you think this is a good idea, please support it!