Bartitsu is still a scarcely practised Martial Art since it’s recent revival in the early 2000’s. Learning more Bartitsu can be a difficult task though there is hope for those who do not have a local club near them. (You should visit our club register).
We have compiled a list of books for your Bartitsu library, this article will become a living document as we add more to our records.
Updated 04/03/2026 to include The New Art of Self Defence: How Bartitsu Reimagined “Antagonistics” in Edwardian England by Tony Wolf.
Modern Bartitsu
By Tommy Joe Moore
Modern Bartitsu is a a full training guide for Bartitsu covering boxing / pugilism, savate, Ju Jitsu, wrestling, stick and street weapons. All distilled for one of the world’s first mixed martial arts designed for the mean streets of Victorian / Edwardian London.
Bartitsu: The Walking Stick Method of Self-Defence
By G.D. Owen
For the first time in 100 years, the Victorian self-defence techniques taught at the famous “Bartitsu Club” in London are presented in a step-by-step, easy-to-understand manual.
Now you can master the martial art of Sherlock Holmes as you learn the entire system, from the basic exercises to the most advanced techniques, with over 90 detailed illustrations.
The Sherlock Holmes School of Self-Defence
By Ivy Press
Learn how to defend yourself with an overcoat, cane, or umbrella, or even to wield your bicycle against an attacker. Wonderful illustrations based on original photographs instruct the reader in skills that range from the sublime to the elementary.
The Bartitsu Compendium, Volume 3
By Tony Wolf
Published 120 years after the Bartitsu School of Arms in London closed its doors for the last time and marking the 20th anniversary of the modern Bartitsu revival, the third volume of the Bartitsu Compendium represents the cutting edge of current knowledge on Edward Barton-Wright’s “New Art of Self Defence”.
The Bartitsu Compendium, Volume 2
By Tony Wolf
The second volume of the Bartitsu Compendium provides resources towards continuing Barton-Wright’s experiments. It combines extensive excerpts from fifteen classic Edwardian-era self defence manuals, including well over four hundred illustrations.
Volume II also offers an extensive collection of long-forgotten newspaper and magazine articles on Bartitsu exhibitions and contests; original articles on Bartitsu history and training; a complete course of Edwardian-era “physical culture” exercises; personality profiles, essays and more besides.
The Bartitsu Compendium, Volume 1
By Tony Wolf
The Bartitsu Compendium is a complete guide to the history, theory and practice of Bartitsu, an eclectic martial art founded by E.W. Barton-Wright in the year 1899. Bartitsu was a combination of four of the most effective self defence methods known at the time – jiujitsu, boxing, savate and stick fighting. The Compendium features over two hundred and seventy pages of original essays, rare vintage reprints and never-before-seen translations, illustrated with hundreds of fascinating photographs and sketches.
The New Art of Self Defence: How Bartitsu Reimagined “Antagonistics” in Edwardian England
By Tony Wolf
This book is an expanded, updated and revised version of the long-form essay “The Bartitsu Story,” first published in The Bartitsu Compendium, Vol. III (2022).
Pearson’s Magazine
By Barton Wright
If you are fortunate to find them, much of the original source material can be found within the Pearson’s magazines of “The New Art of Self-Defence” (Part I) – March 1899, “The New Art of Self-Defence” (Part II) – April 1899 and “Self-Defence with a Walking Stick” – January/February 1901. These books are over 100 years old, and though the articles are within the compendium, they are great collector’s pieces.
The Walking Stick Method of Self Defence by H.G. Lang
By Kirk Lawson
If you can get an original copy, then it is very much worth it but Kirk Lawson has reproduced and formatted this piece, which is extremely affordable on LuLu.
In the early 1920’s, Superintendent of Police in India H.G. Lang introduced the Walking Stick Method of Self Defense based upon the instruction of Swiss la canne Professor Pierre Vigny. He published this historic manual documenting his cane fighting system.
This manual, faithfully transcribed by Kirk Lawson from the original (copyright held on text formatting and images), Lang included 116 pages of text in his orginal manual including 66 pages of specific instruction and 60 images illustrating his techniques.