Thallhoffer-Isnardi's 'Fencing in Contrepointe' - Austro-Hungarian Military Sabre #13

Fencing in Contrepointe, first published in 1838, is the earliest surviving fencing manual authored by instructors at the Theresian Military Academy, one of the Austro-Hungarian Empire's premier officer training institutions. Now available in English for the first time, this translation is part of Russ Mitchell and Đorđe Mijailović's ongoing Austro-Hungarian Military Sabre Series, which brings rare Central European fencing sources to English-speaking practitioners for the first time.

This manual is historically significant for its blend of cutting and point-based technique at a moment when European sabre systems were still finding their footing before the later dominance of Italian and Hungarian methods. For HEMA practitioners focused on 19th-century military sabre, Austro-Hungarian fencing history, or anyone building out a serious source-text library beyond the more commonly translated German and Italian traditions, this is a genuinely rare addition.

Paperback, translated by Đorđe Mijailović, with contribution from Russ Mitchell.