The Story of Heraldry (L.G.Pine, 1952)

 
Jeremy Keith Hammond
 
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Jeremy Keith Hammond
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04 February 2014 10:27
 

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I stopped in a used book store in Boston last week and just inside the front door was "The Story of Heraldry" by L. G. Pine. I’m mostly through it now and have to say I’m quite pleased with the purchase.

 

Unlike most heraldry books, it doesn’t contain a long treatise on how the symbols of heraldry and how to properly blazon, but rather the author talks about how the use and laws of heraldry changed over time from their inception to the modern day (modern, as in 1950’s).

 

I think it’s a very relevant books for Americans to read. L. G. Pine positions himself as sort of an anti-Fox-Davies when it comes to heraldic jurisprudence. He counters the idea that arms issued from a crown are some how more legitimate. He goes on to further argue that even in England (though, not Scotland) assumption of arms is perfectly acceptable and legal. Or at least that is how I interpreted things.

 

Additionally, as a reader - not necessarily just a student of heraldry - I also appreciated the author’s writing style. While there were moments of rambling, as there are in just about every academic work, Pine obviously has a good sense of humor. That’s not to say the book is funny, by any means, but it was a more entertaining read than most heraldry books.

 
Joseph McMillan
 
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Joseph McMillan
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04 February 2014 13:10
 

Jeremy Keith Hammond;101404 wrote:

I think it’s a very relevant books for American’s to read. L. G. Pine positions himself as sort of an anti-Fox-Davies when it comes to heraldic jurisprudence.


I agree completely.  Pine’s contemporary adversary was actually George D. Squibb, QC, the lawyer and historian of the Court of Chivalry who was counsel for the plaintiff in the 1954 Manchester Case, the first (and to date last) case heard in the Court of Chivalry since the 18th century.  Squibb and Pine traded salvos in the pages of the Heraldry Society journal, The Coat of Arms, ca. 1960 or so, over the same heraldic-legal issues that had been argued between Fox-Davies and his supporters and Oswald Barron and Horace Round around the turn of the 20th century.

 
Michael F. McCartney
 
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Michael F. McCartney
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06 February 2014 00:47
 

Ditto.  This was one of the first heraldic texts I read years (decades) ago, and a most useful balance to some of FoxDavies’ more authoritarian views.  (Not that F-D wasn’t also useful, but - - like otherwise good pot roast - in serious need of a grain of salt.

A year or so back, I was lucky enough to pick up a copy at Half-Price Books; good book & truly a bargain at half the normal price.