Historical manuals on stick and staff fighting
The Stafffighter’s Library is dedicated to the recovery, critical editing and republication 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.
O Jogo do Pau Português
The book Jogo do Pau Português reveals the history of the only traditional martial art still alive in Portugal. A rigorous study that traces its origins, evolution and legacy.
Manual Principiantes de Pau-Luta
Practical guide for self-learning how to handle the stick, with clear instructions and various technical photographs that facilitate training and improvement.
Descrição das regras da arte da esgrima: Sobre a Esgrima com Paus (1843)
A detailed 19th-century Russian military treatise on staff fighting, presenting one of the earliest structured systems of European long-weapon combat.
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 staffs. 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