An Illustrated Encyclopedia: Uniforms of the Napoleonic Wars: An unrivalled reference to the insignia, appearance and experience of the fighting men of the period Hardcover – December 27, 2006

Came in great condition and way earlier than expected!!!(all the way from USA to latvia). Amazing book. Has a paper cover and the original cardboard one, which im really happy about, because usually books that have the paper ones leave the cardboard one blank. Thank you so much!

My 11 yr old is currently obsessed with the Napoleonic era so I got him this book as a gift. I would not consider this to be a book for children but due to his intense interest in the subject matter he loves it. It seems to be pretty comprehensive (not that I’m an expert), and there are illustrations on every page. I included a photo of the table of contents so you can be the judge if it’s the right choice for you.

Besides its obvious usages as a photo reference for painting Napoleonic miniatures, it gives great color scheme inspiration for use in other eras as well. The illustrations are crisp and detailed, often with accompanying captions explaining any unusual or eccentric elements of decoration. The text accompanying each section does a fair job of explaining the organization and doctrines of each belligerent, as well as identifying the changes organization and equipment throughout the 20 years of war. Highly recommended!

An Illustrated Encyclopedia: Uniforms of the Napoleonic Wars by Digby Smith is a very good introductory book on the uniforms and armies of the Napoleonic wars. Although this book is jam-packed with illustrations it tries to be all things to all people and ends up doing not much well, but those few things are very good. But still I came away wanting just that little bit more. A good example is the lack of unit size numbers for nearly all of the countries covered. Actually, I wish Digby had scrapped all the historical, tactical, technological sections and just stuck to uniforms.Although there are about 250 plates devoted to showing a uniform of an individual unit this actually just scratches the surface. Consider, there are about 30 plates of the units of Great Britain plus another four plates of Kings German Legion and Brunswickers combined, another four to the East and West India companies and seven of other foreign troops who fought under the British. 16 of those plates are used to show British line infantry. Considering the changes in uniform, Scots units, varying Rifle companies and battalions this gives you just enough information to paint most of the British units you might want. This pattern is repeated for all the major combatants.If you want a cheap introduction to the uniforms of the Napoleonic wars that is jam packed with illustrations then this is the book to get. Although, if you want to start modeling you would probably need more.The The Napoleonic Source Book by Philip J. Haythornthwaite lacks the color plates but has a much better collection of information on uniforms and uniform changes. If you can get a copy, grab it. Plus, he also gives a good idea of the varying sizes of units throughout the era and a whole lot more.Napoleon's War in Spain: The French Peninsular Campaigns, 1807-1814 by Henry Lachouque et al and Military Dress of the Peninsular War, 1808-1814 by Martin Windrow are good examples of campaign centered books that really give you a great understanding of the uniforms of the period without having to resort to Osprey (although, if you wanted to spend that much money, Osprey are great, most being very good but some still vary in quality). Both of these books have less color plates than Digby's book but give a much better view of the uniforms.And if you want a book on battle tactics of the Napoleonic era then a great place to start is Tactics and the Experience of Battle in the Age of Napoleon by Rory Muir.One of my favorite books for uniforms, as lopsided as it is, is Hourtoulle's Soldiers and Uniforms of the Napoleonic Wars. This book uses tableaux instead of Digby's individual soldiers and is therefore able to show many more examples of soldiers within a regiment (plus the backs usually) but not as many individual units overall. Still a fantastic book. Or if you have the money get Elting and Knotel's spectacular NAPOLEONIC UNIFORMS: 2 Volume Boxed Set and NAPOLEONIC UNIFORMS: Vassals and Enemies (2 Volume Set, Volumes III & IV).

I bought as a reference for napoleonic uniforms. I love it lots of pictures and easy to find a different nationalities. I do not know how accurate it is or how well it depicts the different of the many conflicts- not why I bought it. Really love this.

A well produced book,good paper and printing.Interesting in that information is given on the countries that had been beaten and the soldiers incorporated into the Napoleonic army.Campaign details the use of these troops.Uniform details are shown with a single figure well done but if you want to get every thing correct on any given uniform you will have to do research further,which of course is possible as many of these uniforms have been covered in the past books.War gamers will find this useful as it also covers British troops and associated armies.With regard to uniforms the details and rendition are great and there are some that I have not come across before. Very good value for the price.Now if they did one for the period from medieval times tothe start of the French revolution,they would have me hooked.As details of the of that period from heraldry on the war horses up the dress of Louise the 16 are so colour full

Well written and such detail to the illustrations.Beautiful description of the battles,the politics,and the uniforms of the different units,and armys.

Great reference book. My 13 year old son spends much time with it and really enjoys the content.