Items related to Swiss Army Knives: A Collector's Companion
Fully illustrated in colour, this book gives the history behind Victorinox and details the development of the Swiss Army Knife. It includes a directory of knives, with comprehensive model identification for collectors and stories and anecdotes from military owners and others.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Synopsis:
A fascinating, colourfully illustrated celebration of one of the great icons of Swiss culture: in France it's the Couteau Swisse, in Germany the Schweizer Messer to the English speaking world it's the Victorinox Swiss Army Knife - used by military programmes the world over, given away as gifts to guests by the White House (Lyndon Johnson did it first), and even taken as part of the equipment on the Space Shuttle. Charles Elsener, the fourth son of a hatmaker, decided not to enter the family business but to become a cutler. After serving his apprenticeship in south Germany, he opened his own business near Schwyz in Switzerland. Soon after, in 1891, he formed the Swiss Cutlery Guild with the main aim of producing soldiers' knives for the Swiss Army, which had to date bought from German sources. By the end of the year the first batch had been delivered and Elsener's plan proved a success - the first knife, known by name rather than type number, the Soldier's knife had a blade, awl, can opener and screwdriver. Then the development started: as well as the simple Soldier's knife he quickly developed the Student Knife, the Cadet Knife and Farmer's Knife.Because the Soldier's knife was heavy, Elsener developed the lighter Officer's knife, with an added second blade and a corkscrew. Today, Victorinox is the biggest cutlery producer in Europe, producing 34,000 Officer's knives in 100 different styles daily, along with 43,000 of 300 different styles of pocket knife, and the same number of kitchen knives.
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- PublisherCompendium Publishing
- Publication date2007
- ISBN 10 1906347018
- ISBN 13 9781906347017
- BindingHardcover
- Number of pages192
- Rating
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