I was in Portland, OR over thanksgiving and they have a nice book store downtown called "Powell’s". They actually had a small, but rather nice heraldry book collection.
While there I picked up "Heraldry for Craftsmen and Designers" Written by Sir W. H st. John Hope. The edition is a reprint from 1936, and for $20 I figured that even if the book isn’t any good that a 1936 printing of this not-so well-known book would be a good addition to the library anyways.
My question is, is the book any good? Has anyone around these parts read it. It seems decent (Probably mimicks Fox-Davies English rules a lot would be my guess)
Hi,
It is a popular reference book and has gone through many printings.
I’ve dealt with Powell’s - an interesting store (I picked up Burke’s Colonial Gentry there a few years ago at an excellent price).
I usually try to check Abebooks to get a sense of prices
In this case you seem to have also done well - avoiding expensive shipping costs on the less expensive copies.
Linusboarder;51707 wrote:
My question is, is the book any good? Has anyone around these parts read it. It seems decent (Probably mimicks Fox-Davies English rules a lot would be my guess)
I think St. John Hope was very influential in what might be called the heraldic Gothic revival, the restoration of medieval artistic ideals around the turn of the 20th century.
I’ve glanced through the book in the past and it looks like a very useful resource, especially for designers and artists. It is English-focused, but then it was written for an English audience. The fault with F-D is not that he’s English oriented but that within the English context he takes a very absolutist legalistic approach to things that are much less cut and dried, and tends to extrapolate back into history many of the rules that were only introduced into English heraldry in the 17th century.
It’s available on Google books at http://books.google.com/books?id=PDcEAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA251&lpg=PA251&dq=heraldry+craftsmen+designesr&source=web&ots=jndvT1ez5l&sig=uGhe0H3GowA-YUO51LerGsyqW3s#PPA1,M1
Here’s the table of contents:
I. INTRODUCTION
Defects of Modern Heraldic Decoration; Appeal to First Principles; English versus Foreign Sources; Definition of Heraldry; Modes of Display; Colours
and Furs; Formation of Arms; Divisions of the Shield; Early Authorities : Seals, Monuments, Buildings, Wills and Inventories, Rolls of Arms.
II. THE SHIELD AND ITS TREATMENT
Early Forms of Shields; Later Forms; Shields of Irregular Outline and Surface; Tne Filling of a Shield; Apparent versus Absolute Uniformity; Modern Rules as to Proportion; The Use and Abuse of Quatering: its Origin and Growth; Differencing of Arms; The Scutcheon of Ulster; Diapering; Armorial Bearings of Ladies; Use of Lozenges and Roundels as variant forms of Shields; Arms of Men on Lozenges; Combinations of Shields with Lozenges and Roundels of Arms on Seals and in Embroideries.
IV. THE TREATMENT OF CRESTS
Origin of Crests; Earliest examples of Crests; Ways of wearing Crests; The Helm and its treatment; Modern use of Helms; Absurd Crests; Use of Crests other than by individuals; The comparative sizes of Helms and Crests.
V. MANTLINGS
Origin of Mantlings; Simple early forms; Colours of Mantlings; Medieval usage as to colours of Mantlings.
VI. CRESTS AND CROWNS, CAPS OF ESTATE, AND WREATHS Crests within Crowns; Nature and Treatment of Crowns; Caps of Estate: Their possible origin and introduction into Heraldry; The colour of Caps; The placing of Crests upon Caps; Wreaths or Torses; Their Colour; Crests and Mottoes; Use of Crests by Bishops; The ensigning of Arms with Mitres, Cardinals’ and Doctors’ Hats, and Caps of Estate.
VII. THE USE OF BADGES, KNOTS, AND THE REBUS
Definition of a Badge; Difference between Crests and Badges; Examples of Badges; The Ostrich-Feather Badge; The White Hart, etc.; Introduction of Badges into Heraldry; Their Prevalence; Allusive Badges; Badges of obscure Origin; Knots and Badges; The Rebus.
VIII. SUPPORTERS
The probable Origin of Supporters; Quasi-Supporters ; True Supporters : their Introduction; Supporters of Crested Helms; Pairs of Supporters; Dissimilar Supporters; The use of Supporters by Ladies; Other ways of Supporting Shields.
IX. BANNERS OF ARMS
The Royal Banner of Arms; The Banner of the Arms of the City of London; Shapes of Banners; Sizes of certain Banners; Upright versus Long Banners; Advantages of the upright form; Banners with Achievements of Arms; Modern Use of Banners.
X. MARSHALLING OF ARMS
Arms of husband and wife; Dimidiating; Impaling; Scutcheons of Pretence; Impalement with Official Arms; Arms of ladies; Heraldic Drawing; Mottoes;
Use and Misuse of the Garter; Lettering and Mottoes.
XL CROWNS, CORONETS, AND COLLARS
Crowns and Coronets; Introduction of Coronets; Coronets of Princes, Dukes, and Earls; Bequests of Coronets; Illustrations of Coronets and Crowns; Collars and Chains; Collars of Orders; Lancastrian Collars of SS; Yorkist Collars of Suns and Roses; Tudor Collars of SS; Other Livery Collars; Waits’ Collars; Collars and Chains of Mayors, Mayoresses, and Sheriffs; The Revival of Collars; Inordinate Length of modern Collars.
XII. HERALDIC EMBROIDERIES
The introduction of armorial insignia in embroidered Vestments: on Robes : on Beds, etc.
XIII. TUDOR AND LATER HERALDRY
Decorative Heraldry of the Reign of Henry VIII; The Decadent Change in the Quality of Heraldry; Examples of Elaborated Arms; Survival of Tradition in Heraldic Art; Elizabethan Heraldry; Heraldry in the Seventeenth Century and Under the Commonwealth ; Post-Restoration Heraldry.
Thanks guys, it sounds like the 1936 edition for $20 was a pretty good buy
I purchased a paperback reprint of this work earlier this year as a gift for my daughter’s best friend. She is a rather talented artist who made an excellent table shield of my arms. I thought it would be more oriented toward artistic techniques. Instead, it turned out to be a rather good, and readable, history of heraldry. I was very happy with it, as I ended up keeping it for myself.