The art of fencing
Author: John McArthur
Title: The Army and Navy Gentleman’s Companion; or, a New and Complete Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Fencing, Displaying the Intricacies of Small-Sword Play; and. Reducing the Art to the most Easy & Familiar Principles by regular progressive Lessons. Illustrated by Mathematical Figures, and Adorned with elegant Engravings after paintings from Life, executed in the most masterly Manner, representing every material Attitude of the Art. A New Edition Revised with a Glossary and Improvements. By J.Mc. Arthur of the Royal Navy.
Publication: London, Printed for J. Murray, No. 32, Fleet Street. 1784.
Edition: ‘A New Edition Revised with a Glossary and Improvements’.
This book serves as a ‘how-to’ or teaching guide on the art of fencing, created so that military men could teach themselves, both theoretically and practically, the proper techniques. Remarkably, this book features an engraved title page, frontispiece, and nineteen plates that illustrate various fencing stances and foil positions in great detail.
Binding: Bound in full tree calf, the spine is elaborately gilt-tooled and features a red goatskin label of ‘McArthur on fencing’. Although this might appear to be a well-preserved, contemporary binding, it is, in fact, the recent and remarkable work of California bookbinder Philip Dusel.
Provenance: The verso page immediately following the blank flyleaf has a hand-drawn, calligraphic ‘bookplate’ that indicates how a Lieutenant Graham of the 28th Light Dragoons, a light cavalry regiment of the British Army in operation from 1795 to 1802, acquired the book in 1796.1 The only other indication of ownership is a unique pencil caricature of a fencer on p. 59.
Description: The book itself is a quarto, written by John McArthur (1755-1840), a Royal Navy officer, and published by John Murray in London in 1784.2 The first edition was originally published in 1780 in London by James Lavers, printed as a one-volume quarto, which sold for 10s.6d. in boards. The second edition likewise contained twenty engravings and an engraved title page, and it was only two pages longer, totaling 188 pages.3 Prior to entering the book trade in 1768, Murray had been a Royal Navy officer and was very like acquainted with McArthur. Murray presumably acquired the plates from the no-longer-trading Lavers. Murray similarly had a hand in the publication of McArthur’s 1792 A treatise of the principles and practice of naval courts-martial, demonstrating their continued collaboration.4 In the second edition of The Army and Navy Gentleman’s Companion, McArthur similarly dedicates it ‘To His Grace John Duke of Argyll’ (dated 2 December 1780), otherwise known as John Campbell, 5th Duke of Argyll (1723-1806), who was a general of the British Army when the first edition was published.4
All of the plates, save the frontispiece, were drawn ad vivum by McArthur himself and engraved by James Newton (1748-1804). As previously hinted, these plates accompany the lessons found in the book to visually assist pupils on how to hold their weapon when in different guards, along with parrying, attacking, and riposting. The frontispiece, on the other hand, was drawn by James Sowerby (1756-1822) in the neoclassical style and engraved by the aforementioned James Newton.6 It prominently features Athena, the Greek goddess of strategic warfare and wisdom, guiding a boy who carries a sword, paralleling McArthur’s quest to help army men learn the strategic art of fencing through his book.
The book is divided into three main sections. Part I discusses the eight different guards (fencing positions), basic ‘parades’ (parries), and thrusts (attacks). Of note is how the type of fencing outlined by McArthur, although similar, is not identical to modern fencing. In modern fencing, the sport is separated into three weapons: foil, épée, and sabre. These disciplines, however, only became distinct entities in the second half of the 19th century, forming the sport we see today. McArthur, alternatively, describes a discipline in which the fencer uses a thrusting weapon, must establish right of way, and is permitted to hit the hand. Consequently, these qualities communicate how 18th-century fencing resembled more of a combination of épée and foil. Moreover, when this book was written, only the foil—a flat-tipped sword—had been developed.7
Part II focuses on circle parries, counter disengagements, and feints, while Part III focuses on attacks and the rules of combat. Quite interestingly, McArthur adopts a scientific approach when trying to elucidate his teachings, combining theory and practice. He often tells the reader the exact inclination in angular degrees at which one must hold their blade, and he makes several plates resemble trigonometric diagrams, labelling them ‘Mathematical Illustration[s]’.
In the revised edition, the author makes sure to conclude with a ‘Glossary of the Technical Terms’, as its exclusion was the primary critique of the 1780 version. For example, an anonymous review of the first edition, published in February 1781 in The Monthly Review, states how ‘a previous glossary of the terms…would be no improper addition when the opportunity presents itself’.8 Additionally, McArthur hoped that the inclusion of a glossary might encourage ‘a more universal cultivation of this manly exercise in Great Britain’, as he wrote in the ‘Short Advertisement to the Second Edition’ found at the beginning of the book. Following the glossary is an ‘Interrogatory Recapitulation’ in which the readers can quiz themselves on the main theoretical concepts central to the art, and an extensive list of subscribers.
Subscribers: In Blackie House’s copy, the Subscriber’s List was bound at the end of the book, yet the collation is a-b4 c2 d B-X4 Y1 A2. Consequently, while at the end of our copy, the list of subscribers may have been intended to appear at the beginning and may do so in other copies. Additionally, out of the 108 subscribers listed—requesting 117 copies of this revised edition—Lieutenant Graham, to whom the book belonged, does not appear, as he purchased the book over a decade after its publication. Furthermore, these subscribers were not confined to just the British Isles. A significant portion also came from the United States and Jamaica, although the subscribers of the latter country were not published, ‘as their Names had not come to hand when this Sheet was given in for the Press’.
Initially drawn to this book due to my history as a fencer throughout my teen years, The Army and Navy Gentleman’s Companion serves as a prime example of the wide range of books, manuscripts, and artifacts that can be found in Blackie House Library and Museum. Throughout my internship, I’ve encountered everything from William Henry Fox Talbot’s photographs to 18th-century medical texts to Ancient Roman glassware to sheet music handwritten by Jane Austen.
Kai Hostetter-Habib
Shelf mark: Scot.2:04534
References
1. Steve Brown, ‘British Calvary Regiments and the Men Who Led Them 1793-1815: 28th Light Dragoons’, The Napoleon Series, https://www.napoleon-series.org/military-info/organization/Britain/Cavalry/Regiments/28LD.pdf.
2. ESTC T118279; This book is referenced in William Zachs, The First John Murray and the Late Eighteenth-Century London Book Trade (Oxford: British Academy, 1998), Checklist #432.
3. ‘Advertisement and Notices’, Hampshire Chronicle, December 25, 1780, British Library Newspapers, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/IS3241374599/BNCN?sid=bookmark-BNCN&xid=35de9a34.
4. Zachs, John Murray, Checklist #895.
5. The London Gazette, no. 11859, 21 March 21 1778, p. 1, https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/11859/page/1; ESTC T106224.
6. ‘James Newton’, The British Museum, https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG40118; ‘James Sowerby’, The British Museum, https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG46849.
7. Virgílio Franceschi Neto, ‘What are the differences between the foil, épée and sabre fencing disciplines?’ Olympics, 6 December 2023, https://www.olympics.com/en/news/differences-disciplines-fencing-foil-epee-sabre.
8. The Monthly Review; or. Literary Journal: From January to June, inclusive. M,DCC,LXXXI. By Several Hands, vol. 64 (London: Printed for R. Griffiths and sold by T. Becket, Corner of the Adelphi, Strand, 1781), p. 95.