Excerpt from Handbook of Arms and Armor, European and Oriental: Including the William H. Riggs Collection It is, then, from an examination of good specimens of armor and arms of various periods that one real izes that they well deserve their place in a museum of art. And in this conclusion we need consider neither their historical value, as a means of picturing more accurately scenes and personages of known periods, nor their sentimental interest - which they possess to a degree rarely found in other objects of art - nor their supposed mystical significance. In the last regard, we recall the myths of god-like armorers and enchanted arms, which belonged to all early times and to all peoples. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.