Book excerpt: This four volume set by Thomas M. Johnson, a leading collector and authoritative researcher, has been compiled to serve as a useful and authoritative reference on the daggers of Nazi Germany, and have been designed to aid not only the beginning collector, but also the seasoned advanced collector and specialist. These volumes are the result of many years of arduous research conducted on both sides of the Atlantic, and are a scholarly study that is more than a perfunctory annotation and illustration of the known basic patterns. Also, the series is a study of a culture and the crafts that actually produced the blades, as well as being a manual in the art of collecting them. The embracing scope is both educational and recreational and it adds a whole new dimension to this popular collecting subject as a whole. Within these books one will see coverage of the historical background; the manufacturing techniques; constructional information; the actual basic patterns; variations and rarities; the art of collecting, and a whole host of other salient facts of absorbing interest.