Nine (9) Books about Heraldry And Feudal Crests. This lot consists of nine books about heraldry and feudal crests. Heraldry deals with the display of hereditary or ancestral symbols used to distinguish individuals, armies, and institutions; those symbols, which originated as identification devices on flags and shields, are called armorial bearings. A feudal crest was actually an ornament or headpiece that protected against a blow to the head and was used in the 1200’s by feudal chiefs, as they had been by ancient Greek warriors and Roman centurions, and has come to mean a family symbol passed down through the generations. The first books are Fairbairn’s Book Of Crests Of The Families Of Great Britain And Ireland, Being A Fourth Edition Revised And Enlarged, In Two Volumes, published by T. C. And E. C. Jack in London, and Edinburgh, 1892. The books were originally published in 1859 and needed updating, so these two volumes came along in 1892. . Volume I has six pages of Preface, a Contents page, and a huge Index of surnames - 611 pages long - and the second part of this volume covers mottoes, a key to the plates, and a dictionary of heraldic terms and subjects used or mentioned in the book, for another 148 pages inside, and Volume II has 314 plates, with numerous images on each page, for a total in excess of 3000 images in the second volume. The spines have large letters and decorations in gilt, the front covers have gilt titles and a large circular crest in gilt with an animal emblazoned on it, blank endpapers, and the top edges are gilt. For Volume I, the spines have light bumps on the heel and crowns and the letters are a bit faded, there’s light wear at the tips, the endpapers have a few pencilled notes on them and the gutters have a little bit of separation, other than that the bindings are pretty tight, and the pages and text are very clean, with a couple of light brown spots, but not many. Volume II has a four-inch split along either side of the spine and pieces of tape matching the size of the split, and the front gutter is nearly separated from the rest of the book; the blank endpapers in front are detached, but present, and the first couple of plates have brown spots, while the rest of the pages are clean nearly all the way through to the end of the book; there are light brown spots in the top margins towards the end of the book, and modest soiling on the endpapers at the rear, marks on the top of the back cover, and light bumps on the crown and light wear at the tips. The books measure 11 3/4 x 9 1/8 in. wide and are a great resource for learning about heraldry and feudal crests in the two countries. The next title is Some Feudal Coats Of Arms And Others Illustrated with 2000 Zinco Etchings From The Bayeux Tapestry, Greek Vases, Seals Tiles Effigies Brasses And Heraldic Rolls, Some Chart Pedigrees, By Joesph Foster, Hon. M.A. Oxon, published by James Parker & Co., Oxford And London 1902. The book has gilt lettering and a long gilt design on the spine, four gilt devices and a circular display in the middle of the cover, with the author’s name and title in gilt on the design. patterned endpapers with the bookplate of William Gordon Ross and two hand-drawn designs attached to the front paste-down, a blank endpaper with the owner’s name (A H Hepburn) pencilled in with some notes about the owners ancestry, the half title, a colored frontispiece showing an ancient bronze shield found in England, a page about the arms on the title page, a six-page Preface, a Contents page, and 240 pages of text that are astounding in their images and detail. The book measures 13 1/4 x 10 1/2 in. wide, with a tight binding except for the gutter at the rear, the pages and images are pretty clean, with an occasional brown spot at the bottom edge of the pages, the heel and crown have wear, as do the tips, and still an important book about feudal coats of arms and their pedigrees. Super well illustrated. Then Woodward’s A Treatise On Heraldry British And Foreign With English And French Glossaries, by John Woodward and George Burnett, with a New Introduction by L. G. Pine, published by Charles E. Tuttle in Rutland, Vermont, and is a first edition put out in 1969 (stated). The book has a dust jacket with a clipped corner and a crease, the book is 858 pages long and in great condition, and comes with a simple slipcase in great condition too, and it’s a rare title. The book measures 9 7/8 x 6 5/8 in. wide in the slipcase. The Elements of Heraldry Containing An Explanation Of The Principles Of The Science And A Glossary Of The Technical Terms Employed And With An Essay Upon the Use Of Coat Armor In The United States, by William H. Whitmore, published by Charles Tuttle in Rutland, Vermont in 1968, a first Tuttle edition (stated), with a dust jacket. The book measures 7 1/2 x 5 1/4 in. wide and is 106 pages long and in great condition and the dust jacket has very light nicks at the top and bottom edges and is clipped in one corner. An Heraldic Alphabet, by J.P. Brooke-Little, Richmond Herald Of Arms, published by Arco in New York in 1973, with a dust jacket. The book is 224 pages long, with the stamp of Thomas P. Pascale, The Antique Shop, Harwich Center, Mass. on the front endpapers and title page, a couple of light brown spots on the rear endpaper, the dust jacket has a couple of scratches on the front, and it measures 8 3/4 x 5 3/4 in. wide. Simple Heraldry by Iain Moncreiffe and Don Pottinger, published by Thomas Nelson And Sons Limited in 1956. (The first edition was published in 1953.) 64 pages long (the last page is unnumbered), with a gilt-decorated cover and all the images in color, a sticker with the owner’s name on it on the front flyleaf and two black and white coat of arms stuck down to the front paste-down, with browning on the pages, and it measures 9 3/4 x 7 3/8 in. wide. The Oxford Illustrated History of the British Monarchy by John Cannon & Ralph Griffiths, published by the Oxford University Press in 1988. The book is 727 pages long, including a bibliography for further reading and an index, and it has a dust jacket. The book has gilt titles in the spine and pictorial endpapers depicting an amalgam of the the royal family in the 1930’s and 50’s, and the book is in very good shape, with light soiling at the bottom of edge of the pages and a small tear and curled top on the dust jacket, and still an interesting history of the royal families throughout time, and it measures 10 x 7 3/4 in. wide. The last book is titled “Britain’s Kings & Queens” by Michael St. John Parker, published by Pitkin Pictorials in 1990, and it’s a great guide to who’s who in the British monarchy. It also features Queen Elizabeth with great photos of her at the beginning and end of the book, including a color photo of her with one of her corgi’s. The book is 32 pages long and measures 9 7/8x 6 7/8 in. wide, with just specks of wear at the tips. A great group of books for research and understanding about heraldry and feudal coats of arms, especially if you have someone in the family who wore armor and had a coat of arms, with a bit of history about the royal families throw in. #233 #1691