Jackson, D: Swiss Army Knives

Swiss Army Knives is the comprehensive guide for Swiss Army Knives no collector should live without. This fascinating, colorfully illustrated book is a celebration of one of the great icons of Swiss culture.

Swiss Army Knives catalogs each gadget, beginning with the simple Soldier's knife, later developed into the Student Knife, the Cadet Knife, and Farmer's Knife. Each model is accompanied with a narrative. For example, the Soldier's knife was heavy, which led developers to create the lighter Officer's knife, with an added second blade and a corkscrew. The book includes hundreds of illustrated examples of Swiss Army Knives and anecdotes from military personnel and other owners and a comprehensive model identification system, for the dedicated collectors.

This fascinating, colorfully illustrated celebration of one of the great icons of Swiss culture-in France it's the Couteau Swiss, in Germany the Schweizer Messer, and to the English-speaking world it's the Victorinox Swiss Army Knife-used by military programs the world over and given away as gifts to guests by the White House (Lyndon Johnson did it first).

Switzerland is not a country we associate with war. Nor is it a major steel-producing country. Yet the Swiss Army Knife, originally produced by a Swiss master cutler for the Swiss armed forces, is now recognized throughout the world. Like the Rolls-Royce or the Zippo lighter, it has become part of mythology, an icon that represents a standard of quality and versatility which has carried through from the nineteenth into the twenty-first century.

The basic design of the knife has changed little since Karl Elsener patented the first Swiss Officer's Knife in 1897, but the context within which the knives are now used would have astonished him. Elsener's knives have been used at the top of Mount Everest and on coral reefs; astronauts carry them in the Space Shuttle; and they have saved lives on the ocean, in the air and in the desert.

Charles Elsener,