The New Art of Self Defence

By E. W. Barton-Wright

From Pearson's Magazine, March-April 1899


Explanatory note:

This article appeared in two parts in Pearson's Magazine, in issues dated March and April 1899. The page layout was somewhat complex; most of the first page of the first article consisted of a heading and a long footnote describing the author, by the editor of the magazine, and the other pages were profusely illustrated with photographs depicting manoeuvres described in the text.

In these files there are links to the illustrations at approximately the point that they occurred on the printed page.

An additional file describes the author's place (and that of his Japanese colleagues) in the history of British martial arts. I should perhaps add that I have no personal knowledge of martial arts; Alex Stewart has been extremely helpful with this information, and any mistakes remaining are mine, not his.

WARNING - MOST OF THE MANOEUVRES DEPICTED ARE POTENTIALLY VERY DANGEROUS, AND SAFETY PROBLEMS ARE RARELY MENTIONED IN THE TEXT. READERS ARE STRONGLY ADVISED NOT TO TRY THEM WITHOUT EXPERT SUPERVISION. I CANNOT ACCEPT ANY RESPONSIBILITY FOR INJURIES IF THIS WARNING IS IGNORED.
OPINIONS STATED IN THE TEXT ARE NOT THOSE OF THE EDITOR!

Marcus L. Rowland

Part one
Part two
Art Index
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