06-21-2004, 10:01 AM
Finally got the book today after a three weeks wait. Probably came from Britain on a sailboat..<br>
And I wasn't disappointed. This is a true reference book listing every military related artefact or art dug out at Dura, plus a relation of the siege, plus excellent line drawings of the different phases of the siege, plus a good color picture of a clibanarius, plus new ways to lace scales together (the lamellar leather cuisses) and so on..<br>
...Not to mention the explanation as to why seemingly dished shield bosses were found with obviously flat shields..<br>
OK, the price comes close to 200 euros, I think. (I'm too lazy to check the exchange rates with the pound but this should be about it).<br>
Given the confidential readership for this kind of book, I am actually thankful to the authors. It's good work, but it will never sell 200 000 copies like the latest Stephen King flick. Hence the prize.<br>
Another important point: it's hard cover and solid binding, which means I'll be able to open and close this book many, many times, contrary to a soft cover, whch I call the "one shot books". You read them once and since there is absolutely no decent binding, you're soon left with a bunch of loose leaves.<br>
This is a scholarly book, and scholarly books are expensive. It's a fact of life.<br>
As a comparison, I paid 45 euros, more than fifteen years ago, for a hard cover copy of Tacitus' "Germania" by the Guillaume Budé publisher (the equivalent of Loeb's Classical).<br>
And we're talking about the --short-- latin text, the translation, three maps and of course a voluminous critical apparatus. In short, a hell of a lot more work that Stephen King.<br>
I also liked the dedication to Peter Connolly. A well deserved one for an amateur archaeologist who did more for military archaeology than a lot of professionals. <p></p><i></i>
And I wasn't disappointed. This is a true reference book listing every military related artefact or art dug out at Dura, plus a relation of the siege, plus excellent line drawings of the different phases of the siege, plus a good color picture of a clibanarius, plus new ways to lace scales together (the lamellar leather cuisses) and so on..<br>
...Not to mention the explanation as to why seemingly dished shield bosses were found with obviously flat shields..<br>
OK, the price comes close to 200 euros, I think. (I'm too lazy to check the exchange rates with the pound but this should be about it).<br>
Given the confidential readership for this kind of book, I am actually thankful to the authors. It's good work, but it will never sell 200 000 copies like the latest Stephen King flick. Hence the prize.<br>
Another important point: it's hard cover and solid binding, which means I'll be able to open and close this book many, many times, contrary to a soft cover, whch I call the "one shot books". You read them once and since there is absolutely no decent binding, you're soon left with a bunch of loose leaves.<br>
This is a scholarly book, and scholarly books are expensive. It's a fact of life.<br>
As a comparison, I paid 45 euros, more than fifteen years ago, for a hard cover copy of Tacitus' "Germania" by the Guillaume Budé publisher (the equivalent of Loeb's Classical).<br>
And we're talking about the --short-- latin text, the translation, three maps and of course a voluminous critical apparatus. In short, a hell of a lot more work that Stephen King.<br>
I also liked the dedication to Peter Connolly. A well deserved one for an amateur archaeologist who did more for military archaeology than a lot of professionals. <p></p><i></i>