Emile Maitrot was a highly accomplished all-round sportsman who used his experience as a professional boxing professor and Defense dans la Rue instructor to write this very practical self-defence manual.

First published in France during the early 1900s this manual provides its readers with insights into combining English pugilism with French savate and Japanese jiu-jitsu alongside the effective use of weapons such as the truncheon and walking stick, counters to the common "dirty tricks" used by the Apache gangs and advice on defensive techniques specifically for women.

Translated into English for the first time this manual gives a fascinating insight into an often overlooked aspect of the past useful for martial artists, reenactors and historians alike.