Book excerpt: Accompanying a major international exhibition at the Wallace Collection (May - September 2012), this book celebrates the artistic and cultural importance of the sword, as a symbol of power and prestige, as a flamboyant fashion statement and as an icon of the Age of Discovery. It will feature weapons and related works of art from the Wallace Collection as well as other great collections of arms and armor; never-before-seen illustrated works on fencing drawn from the library of the 8th Lord Howard de Walden; and portraits, prints, and drawings that will help place the Renaissance civilian sword in its social and artistic context. It will also explore the ancient origins of the modern sport of fencing, one of only nine original Olympic events practiced since the first Olympiad of the modern era of 1896, revealing a place in history where art and sport converged.