| Everything that we have learned from years of collecting, traveling to Maniago and talking with some of the old makers and folks in the knife industry there, to hours of conversations with the CEO of Latama Inc. himself... is shared in this book. The Latama chapter itself is worth the cover price. We start in the 1400's with the roots of the cutlery industry in Maniago and take you through the turn of the 20th century, the golden era of picklocks in the late 40's and the 50's, through the fascinating knife patterns created in the 1960's. There are over 150 actual size color photos of Italian switchblades dating from the late 1700's through 1970. There are photos of rare and unusual tang stamps, and all the ephemera that we could find here in the states and in Maniago. This book is a must for anybody with a fascination of the switchblade knife. |
