This catalogue features daggers in numerous examples dating from the fourteenth to the eighteenth century and provides a history of not only the daggers in The Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection, but also the broader history of daggers in general. The illuminating text traces the dagger's development and mode of use throughout the time period while also differentiating it from concurrent development of swords. Included in the text are helpful line illustrations that better show the form and decoration of the daggers, accompanied by a plate section, which allows for easy comparison of the works.

The re-creation of classically inspired armor is invariably associated with Filippo Negroli, the most innovative and celebrated of the renowned armorers of Milan.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1839.