Historical manuals on stick and staff fighting
The Stafffighter’s Library is dedicated to the recovery, critical editing and republishing of manuals on stick fighting — from the 19th to the 21st century — with a special focus on Portuguese stick fighting. It produces academic work with documentary recovery, technical notes and historical contextualisation.
Critical editions Facsimile reproduction Jogo do Pau PortuguêsSee catalogue
New Edition
Stick Fighting – Russian Military Manual (1843)
Recovery + modernised transcription + technical comparison with Portuguese Stick Fighting.
Description of the Rules of the Art of Fencing: On Staff Fencing (1843)
A detailed 19th-century Russian military treatise on staff fighting, presenting one of the earliest structured systems of European long-weapon combat.
Portuguese Jogo do Pau
The book Portuguese Jogo do Pau reveals the history of the only traditional martial art still alive in Portugal. A rigorous study that traces its origins, evolution and legacy.
Memoria sobre Esgrima
Analytical edition of the rare treatise Memoir on Fencing (1888) by the Portuguese master Manuel Cid. A fundamental document on fencing and Jogo do Pau in the 19th century.
About the Project
The Portuguese Staff Fighting Historical Research Centre is dedicated to the study, preservation and dissemination of Portuguese martial traditions involving sticks and staves. Its mission involves documentary research, collecting sources, recording memories, technical evaluation and cultural promotion of Jogo do Pau - both nationally and internationally.
Its editorial scope includes the Stafffighter's Library, a library and publication line specialising in the recovery, critical editing and republication of historical manuals on stick fencing — from the 19th to the 21st century — with a special focus on Portuguese Staff Fighting and European military methods. Each work is restored with academic rigour, technically reviewed and published with comparative notes, glossaries, iconography and historical context, making accessible a little-known heritage of great relevance to the history of Iberian martial arts.
See full catalogue