\"The Complete Roman Legions\"

[mcbishop]

I suspect it might be that the authors of the text were not responsible for the images or the production of the book as a whole.

In lavishly illustrated books like this, the quality of the illustrations and the accuracy of the captions can be almost as important as the text. Others will know the answer to this better than I but can an author insist upon having some control over the choice of illustrations and the wording of captions to ensure that the value of his or her work is not diminished by the incompetence of a picture editor?

In popular works the images are usually pulled together by picture editors - I regularly get trolled by them after stuff they have seen on my Flickr site and I nearly had one of the Verona tombstones in the SDC work mentioned above. It's a bit insulting to those of us doing 'real' books who don't get a picture budget and have to get by as best we can (the reason B&C1 & 2 are full of my drawings), but that's commercial publishers for you (think frog and scorpion); come the revolution, whilst the rest of you are up stringing up the politicians and the bankers, I shall be dealing with the publishers ;-)

To get back to the subject, the authors' input to image choice and captioning etc will vary depending on the publisher and the nature of the commission: basically, if you took the idea to them, you stand a better chance than if they solicited you to write some copy to fill pages (it is much harder to write copy to fill 'spreads' than it is to write a whole book, trust me; I love the latter and hate the former). A lot of these sort of books are dreamed up around a table in a publishing house rather than thought out carefully by somebody who knows what they are talking about... but then is anybody really surprised by that? The results of such folly fill publishers' remainder shops.

Mike Bishop

[Renatus]

I have a Time Life book from a few years back entitled 'What Life was Like When Rome Ruled The World'. The same picture of the armour appears in there too, although it say's it is a replica.

If it is a movie prop I am not sure from what movie.

Out of curiosity, I ordered a secondhand copy of this book. The Picture Credits imply that the replica armour comes from the Museum of Roman Civilisation in Rome.

[Statius]

Turned up in my Xmas stocking, will let you know how I get on! :wink:

[JeffF]

This book is an excellent reference for any student of the Roman Army. The authors distinguish between what is definitely known of a legion's history and what is probable, unlike the fiction presented as fact of another author of a history of legions. They further state the evidence, e.g. Inscriptions, that indicate a historical probability. The maps with supplementing text gives context to the strategic reasons for the stationing of legions at frontier or city posts. The known campaigns and battles are presented in as much detail as the evidence allows. The authors also state what is known or probable of the vexillations of the legions as well as information of officers associated with the legions. Finally it ends each legion history with it's position according to the Notitia Dignitatum. I have to admit the photos and art are of no consequence to me since I did not buy the book for Roman army images.

[philsidnell]

It depends on the publisher. One advantage of our (Pen & Sword's) model of our relying (in most cases) upon the author to also supply the pictures is that they get to write their own captions and they get to see and approve them before publication.

Phil Sidnell
Pen & Sword Books