[ANSTHRLD] books

[Doug Bell]

The 3 most useful books?

Secret History of the Mongols translated from the Chinese
Genghis Khan The History of the World Conquerer by Ata Malik Juvaini
Successors of Genghis Khan by Rashid al-Din 
These sources range from 600 to 700 years old.

A close fourth would be Introduction to Classical Mongolian with its
Mongol/English dictionary and Mongol grammar's seven case structures.

At least they are the most useful when I am working on Mongol or Tibetan names.

This should show how useless a general question like this is but folks keep
asking it over the years.

A few examples of useful book sets:
If you are interested in Scotland and Ireland get OCorrain & Maguire's Irish
names, Woulfe's Irish Names and Surnames, and Black Surnames of Scotland.

For English, Reaney & Wilson, Withycombe, and Bardsley.

For basic armory consulting: The SCA Pictorial Dictionary, Brooke-Little's
An Heraldic Alphabet, and a copy of the Ordinary/armorial in book or
electronic form.
Other aspects of armory such as period style were covered by Daniel's message.

For other fields of heraldry the best course is to take classes in the area
of interest at SCA events.  Sign on to help with field heraldry if that is
your interest.  Offer to assist at a local group's court to learn more on
court heraldry.  Some of the teachers may also have handouts left over from
classes that would be helpful in your area of interest.

It is up to you to pick an area that you enjoy working with and seek out the
people who know the resources.  You have to ask about a specific field.  You
won't find daily advice columns for Tibetan names posted on the heralds list. 

Magnus