Japanese Swords from American Collections is the first volume of an ongoing series. This effort aims to catalog some of the many swords here in the United States and share them with the world. There are 43 blades featured in this volume. Works span from the Kamakura period up to the 1940's. This book is richly illustrated with over 80 high resolution images, many of winch are full-page composites of multiple photographs. The photography in this book presents the opportunity to study jigane and hataraki in combination with detailed text explanations, creating an excellent learning resource. Those who are new to the study of Japanese Swords will find this to be an exciting introduction to the variety, wonder and beauty of Nihonto. Seasoned students of sword study will look to this series as highly useful research reference. Lastly, this series hopes to convey the typical nature and level of private collections among life-long enthusiasts here in the United States.