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Further Reading
on Heraldry |
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By Alex Maxwell Findlater |
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You are probably already
pretty conversant with the normal heraldic expressions and how they
are used. The problem is that the bits you want to find out more
about are all hidden away in little corners; this is always the
case, I suppose, but most of the books will give you the general
picture, without the sort of detail which you get on the HSS
website's Forum. The detail on the Forum comes because the
participants are really keen and so go out of their way to learn the
odd, arcane and peculiar things. It is this extra knowledge which
makes the Forum such a stimulating place, although sometimes I dread
to open some of the threads!
HERALDRY
ON THE WEB
On the web, there are a
number of heraldic sites, but the best for a general overview is
http://www.heraldica.org, although it is slightly biased against
Scottish practice on the question of noblesse/gentility, which Scots
regard as being the same, while the English say that nobility is as
it were a grade above gentry. Francois Velde is an American
enthusiast and also has a lot on chivalric orders, the sort of thing
that we are not allowed to talk about! There is also the Google
rec.heraldry forum,
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.heraldry but since the
advent of our Forum, this has become markedly less interesting.
Despite that there is a wealth of material in the archive, from the
last 10/12 years. Of course there is also the website of Anthony
Maxwell,
http://www.scotsheraldry.com, which includes a forum and other
material, some of which he used on the Society’s website when he was
webmaster. A specifically Scottish site is the Baronage
http://www.baronage.co.uk which was developed by Frederick
Hogarth, with its associated magazine The Feudal Herald.
In fact the archive of
the HSS Forum is as good a place as any to look, if you want to
research a particular topic. Both this archive and that of
rec.heraldry can be searched on any word or combination of words;
you probably know to put inverted commas around a phrase which you
want to search for in its exact form; without the inverted commas,
the search is for any and all of the component parts. |
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BOOKS ON
SCOTTISH HERALDRY
As for books, if your
interest is particularly Scottish, start with Mark Dennis'
Scottish Heraldry (HSS), also The Lion Rejoicing by
Mark Dennis and Charles Burnett (HMSO). Both are recent and
well-written and available on this site. For a fun and older book,
currently out of print, try Moncreiffe and Pottinger's
Simple Heraldry. For a view on the origins of Scots heraldry try
Beryl Platt's somewhat contentious Scottish Hazard
(Proctor Press available from Heraldry Today).
Textbooks for any
serious student of Scottish heraldry are:
Scotland’s Historic
Heraldry by Bruce McAndrew (2006 Boydell), comprehensive
and detailed by our foremost Scottish historic heraldist
Aspilogia
Scoticana
or “Scottish
Armorials from earliest times to the start of the eighteenth
century” to give the full title, by Alex Maxwell Findlater
(2006, HSS) |
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Sir Thomas Innes of
Learney's Scots Heraldry (1934, revised 1956 and revised
by his son Sir Malcolm 1978). Sir Tam was an innovative Lord Lyon
and the progression of his thoughts between the first and second
editions is fascinating. His closely argued theories and changes
are due for re-evaluation.
Sir Francis James
Grant's Manual of Heraldry (1914, revised 1924 with many later
editions).
J H Stevenson's
Heraldry in Scotland (1914), probably still the most
authoritative, but sometimes difficult to read
Heraldry in relation
to Scottish History and Art which is the text of the Rhind
Lectures given by Lord Lyon Sir James Balfour Paul in 1898
The Treatise on
Heraldry: British and Foreign by Woodward and Burnett (1892),
which has some good Scottish stuff from George Burnett (1822-1890),
who was Lord Lyon from 1866 until 1890. Scottish heraldry along
with English went into a grand slump in the eighteenth century and
only recovered after the Lyon Office was reorganised in 1867 after
the appointment of Burnett as Lord Lyon in 1866. Before that Lyons
had appointed Deputes and there was a lack of seriousness; moreover
the Depute did not have the authority required for the job.
Seton's Scottish
Heraldry (1863)
Nisbet's System of
Heraldry (1722) which is the bible and
The Science of
Herauldry (1680) also known as Scotland’s Herauldrie
(sic) by Sir George Mackenzie of Rosehaugh, the wicked Lord
Advocate, which has lots of Latin and $$$$$$ attached as well. This
is the only text on heraldry which has legal authority in Scotland.
In 2002 the first purely
Scottish roll of arms was published, The Balliol Roll (ca
1332) edited by Bruce A McAndrew. It was published by the
Committee on Heraldry of the New England Historic Genealogical
Society and should still be available from them; their website is at
http://www.newenglandancestors.org. The HSS has started the
publication of a series of facsimiles, or quasi-facsimiles, of
generally 16th century rolls of arms. The first two of
these were published in 2006 by the Society: |
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The Dublin Armorial of Scottish
Nobility (ca 1592) edited by
Leslie Hodgson
The Dunvegan Armorial
(1582) edited by John and Eilean Malden
Future armorials in this
series are planned, with Lord Crawford’s Armorial (ca 1602)
(sometimes erroneously called Lindsay Secundus) and the Hague
Roll (ca 1592) as present work-in-progress.
Also printed in 2006 by
private subscription was the Slains Armorial (ca 1567)
edited by Anthony Maxwell. Second-hand copies of this may
gradually come available. Another book, or perhaps booklet might be
a fairer description, published in 2006 was Scots Heraldry
Visited by John Hamilton Gaylor. This can be obtained
from the author on
gaylor@uwclub.net or by sending him a private message through
the forum.
BOOKS ON
ENGLISH HERALDRY
The standard English works are those of
Fox-Davies and Boutell. Both are revised and annotated
by John Brooke-Little. His edition of Boutell’s Heraldry
is probably still the best general book on heraldry. There are many
facsimile editions of the Fox-Davies Complete Guide to Heraldry,
which makes it easy to find, but he is opinionated and very English
and full of rules rather than the historical and scholarly
appreciation of the subject Here Brooke-Little
has not changed the text, but rather indicated up-dated views etc in
foot-notes. General books on Heraldry, all from an English
view-point, include: |
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An Heraldic Alphabet
by John Brooke-Little
The Oxford Guide to
Heraldry by Robinson and Woodcock
Heraldry for the
Local Historian and Genealogist by Stephen Friar
Stephen Slater's
finely written and very colourful The Complete Book of Heraldry
A New Dictionary of
Heraldry by Stephen Friar
also anything by
Ottfried Neubecker and Carl von Volborth.
RECENT
WORK: JOURNALS
For up to date matter,
the best source is journals, particularly the Double Tressure
and the Coat of Arms. You are presumably already enjoying the
current DT, but a lot of back numbers are available and indeed the
early ones have some of the best articles. The CoA is published by
the Heraldry Society (England), see their website.
SECOND-HAND BOOKS
For used books, search
on abebooks
http://dogbert.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchEntry or on
http://www.used.addall.com, which is a compilation of various
web-lists of books. There is also
http://ukbookworld.com/cgi-bin/search.pl, which has only UK
booksellers. But if you want a book badly enough, it only costs the
extra postage! For books which are still in print, I presume that
Barnes & Noble or Amazon are the best; however with heraldry, there
are never very many books in print.
Good luck
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