An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Military Uniforms of the 19th Century: A Stunning Expert Guide to the Uniforms of the Crimean War, the War of German ... and Italian Unification and Colonial Wars

No book covering such a long period of military history can hope to cover the subject in depth and this is no exception. As many reviewers have pointed out, it is a superficial introduction to these conflicts best suited to the general reader who has little knowledge of the wars and armies concerned. I was left with the thought that the authors, given their military background, had pooled their collective knowledge rather than research more deeply, but I may be being unfair in saying that. The volume would benefit from tightening up editing and proof reading. I was interested to read that the union 3 inch rifled cannon was especially prized by the confederates when they captured one, but this fact was repeated on the next page and again in text accompanying an illustration; not necessary when space is tight. Much of the text was given to lengthy descriptions of uniforms and their various nuances, but this could have been reduced with appropriate illustrations. For example why describe the yellow piping on the rear of a union cavalry shell jacket without it being shown - this is an illustrated work after all. The plate described as the guidon bearer of the 7th cavalry is surely a post civil war infantry officer and not the iconic soldier I was hoping to see. But not to be totally negative, where this book really comes into its own is the high quality of the illustrations. A team of artists is credited with the plates; all are excellent but some, with highly realistic facial features, are truly exceptional, whether they are completely accurate or not. If you want a weighty, scholarly tome this isn't for you. If you want to relax with a nice glass of wine and enjoy soaking up the sumptuous illustrations you won't be disappointed.

Arrived damaged. Good book otherwise.

I was really looking forward to receiving this - but I am seriously disappointed. Not least because of the mistakes in the titling of the illustrations but also on the quality of some of these.There are also some serious typographical mistakes.If you are interested in the American Civil War there is plenty to occupy yourself with. However, I had assumed that there would be more uniforms than are featured. Is it necessary to have so much text to the detriment of illustrations?If you want a bit of a laugh have a look at the way some figures are wearing their headgear, especially on page 180, where the General Officer has a hat much too small for his head, as do the British infantry on the Crimean War pages.Very much a book for kids rather that a serious military uniform buff.Good for a 13 year-old, but not for such as me!

These books are all excellent,with brilliant graphics and short to the point texts !!!!

A well illustrated broad view of the subject matter.

To be honest my expectations were not high about this book. It covers 85 years of conflict in one book, so you can't expect more than a superficial coverage of any particular subject, and that is what you get. It's a coffee-table book with lots of lovely colour illustrations and very attractive to look at, but only good for the casual browser. If you are serious about learning details of armies and uniforms then avoid this book at all costs.Brevity I can forgive, but this book is full of errors both in the text and the pictures. Many have already been pointed out by other reviewers and I won't bore you with others, although if you don't know that the Crimean War started in 1854, not 1844, then you have no business publishing any book on the subject in my view. Most of the illustrations are simply copied from other books, so if you already have a good library of such books then this brings nothing knew. Often the figures are officers but no ordinary soldiers, and often they are in parade uniform, when 99% of potential readers want to see actual campaign appearance. The reason is most are slavishly copied from other books and photos of reenactors, and some of these are merely repeating errors in those books. Clearly the Osprey Boxer Rebellion was been widely copied, which is a book notoriously full of errors, many of which have been repeated here. There has been no primary research and all this is is an unthinking anthology of other books with no attempt at checking accuracy.And yes, if you promise the Balkan Wars on the cover then why are they completely missing inside? Sloppy and amateurish!In short, its a lovely book and a good browse for anyone with no particular interest in the subject, but if you are serious about 19th century military history then you will soon discover you already know more about it than these authors.

Really lovely book.

Details in the print contradict that shown in images i.e.Uniform described as having buff collar and cuffs, illustration next to this information shows trooper wearing white collar and cuffs. This was only one of a number I found in the first 2 chapters. I also found a number of dates to be incorrect. OK for a general read but unreliable as a reference book for uniform information for modelling.