The Witchery of Archery

by Maurice Thompson

Maurice Thompson's The Witchery of Archery is America's classic treatise on the subject of archery. Topics covered include: Archery Weapons, The Bow, To Make A Bow, Stringing the Bow, The Bowstring, The Arrow, The Shooting Glove, The Quiver and Belt, The Bracer, The Target, The Ascham, The Care of Tackle, How to Shoot and more.

Genres: Nonfiction, Outdoors, Martial Arts

128 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1877

Reviews

[Paul A · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely some dated and casually racist language throughout the book, but otherwise, it is a more anecdotal memoir of several hunting trips that the author takes. He travels all over the Deep South, hunting wildlife with his bow and arrows, with some beautiful descriptions of wildlife and his time in the wild.

[Thomas J Motherway · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting treatise written in the early days of sport archery.

The book was quite well written Some might find many of the words and phrases quite antiquated. As far as it being a manual of archery, it is more of a look at the attitudes and customs of the time.

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an e-pub re-issue of a book originally released in the early 1900s. It is more a tale of the of the author's fascination with the long bow and his pursuit of small birds and animals. There are very few tips on archery in the work. This was a free down load.

[Lydia Kass · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although the bows are fancier today, not much has changed in the way of shooting. Thompson recounts stories of hunting with and without his brother, Will, on the Okeechobee and parts of Florida with vivid detail. Cute anecdotal account of simpler times.

[Caryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was truly well written. The book is about the adventures of the author and his brother as they hunt small game. Beautifully written beyond its time. The authors naturalist field notes developed into these stories and make for very descriptive and interesting reading.

[Danny O. Hamilton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading about the adventure of finding lake Okeechobee. I also learned much about archery and some history.

[Theophan Eichhorn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This, without a doubt, is one of the most lucid books on hunting ever written. The stories at times almost read as a pleasant fever dream and exude hallucinatory beauty along the way. There is a fantastical, mystical aire about this work. Yet it seems a rare beauty in today's world.

Perhaps the beauty is skewed if not hidden by reading the book through modern lenses. Its pleasantness is turned taboo because of the time, expressions, and the world in which it was written. Since it appears that one must state their disagreement with the book's language, its ordering of society, and the lack of conservation verging on bloodthirsty greed to the modern mind, I will but include my admission and confession of these sins. Yet, to overlook the beauty contained is a grave sin.

While this is not a manual, in the modern sense, I do believe it to be quite capable of showing modern readers the wonders and mystery of archery in a way that a technical and instructional guide would be incapable of doing. It also gives a glimpse of a place and a time that is no more, for both better and worse. I have come to relate a song to this work that is possibly as old as the book itself, “The Sweet Sunny South.” Particularly the following lyrics:

“Take me back to the place where the orange trees grow
To my plot in the evergreen shade
Where the flowers from the river's green margins did grow
And spread their sweet scent through the glade”

Yet, much like the song lyrics, this time and place was vanishing before the author's very eyes and the account:

“Take me back, let me see what is left that I knew
Can it be that the old house is gone?
Dear friends of my childhood indeed must be few
And I must face death all alone”

I have never ventured to Florida and I do not know if one could even retrace the author's steps had a detailed itinerary of his travels been left for us. But I can say with all assurance, that the glades, swamps, rivers, and islands in this book are as much a part of history as Atlantis. Those unspoiled places were undoubtedly over-hunted but now also overpopulated, polluted, commercialized, sold, bought, developed, and crushed under the heel of modernity. Hopefully, some of this land, water, and sky remains part of a wildlife management area, its curation like a museum against the surrounding machinery and destruction brought about in the name of progress. 

The longing of this book is intense and the nostalgia fills me with a hiraeth for a place that is impossible for me to have known other than through the blood that flows through my veins and the words left to us. It's in this collective, epigenetic memory that I often return to and bathe in its waters as I venture along shooting primitive arrows against fantastic beasts through my mind's eye. 

[cellomerl · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is less about archery as a sport than a description of intense carnage with a longbow, without a bag limit in sight. When reading a book like this, you start to understand why so many wild animals are endangered now. These guys go on epic hunting trips and kill literally dozens of animals. The casual racism is rampant, but after all it's a book that is of a certain time and place. The poetry is eye-wateringly bad.
But on the plus side, there are many lovely descriptions of the natural world, and interesting observations of animal behaviour, particularly of birds. It's quaint to read about 1866-vintage camping preparations and equipment. And since I struggle to consistently hit a bulls eye on a regulation target at twenty yards indoors in full light, I am amazed by the skill of these archers who can live off what they shoot.