Thread by @incunabula

This is the first book expressly designed as a weapon: Uwe Wandrey's "Kampfreime" made for use during the 1968 German Student Movement - palm-sized, with razor-sharp metal boards for scratching or cutting. 1/

The full title in translation reads: “Battle chants. Handy Battle-Edition equipped with sharp sides for the phase of Revolutionary Resistance". 2/

Inside the front metal board: "Notwehrtauglich". "Suitable for self-defence". 3/

This book is cleverly designed. The bent metal spine from the upper board rests on the palm, and the lower board - which juts further out - is buttressed against this metal base, so that the metal can’t push back & cut into one’s palm if the book is used to strike an enemy. 4/

Kampfreime had another use as well. The sharp end of the book was also intended to scrape away posters, flyers or adverts - to remove the symbols of bourgeois advertising & control.

In short: This was a tool to protect the bearer AND a text designed to destroy other texts. 5/