[ANSTHRLD] books

[tmcd at panix.com]

On Fri, 14 Oct 2005 nweders at mail.utexas.edu <heralds at ansteorra.org> wrote:
> Could everyone let me know what your three favorite books are in
> terms of heraldry.
>
> Like if I were starting out - which books would you recommend for
> the beginner.

*THREE* books?  That's tough!

At least it's better than 10 years ago, with the advent of the World
Wide Web.  The most essential works of 1995 aren't even on the list
now, because you just bookmark them, or download them, for the
single-page documents.
- College of Arms (CoA) Administrative Handbook
- CoA Rules for Submission
- CoA Glossary of Terms
- SCA Armorial
- SCA Ordinary
The Academy of Saint Gabriel, also Webbed, helps with a lot of
languages.

The exact list depends on the beginning herald's interests: do they
think they'll like names, or armory?  Or court or field or
administration, for which there really are no applicable books?

Assuming someone who doesn't know for sure but may want to go into
names or armory:

(1) E. G. Withycombe, _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_
(2) P. H. Reaney and R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_
    Each in their third editions.  Both are out of print.

    Everybody needs a name.  English names are the most popular in the
    SCA.  S. Gabriel has a lot of names, but I don't know whether
    they're as comprehensive as these two.  (Given how many more
    surnames than given names there are, I suspect Withycombe would go
    first.)  Also, Withycombe has an introduction that teaches a fair
    amount.  Also also, while a name *expert* needs a lot more sources
    and a lot more in-depth knowledge, I think that a name *beginner*
    may get off the ground quicker than an armory beginner.

    (Someone more expert can get by with Reaney and Wilson, because
    many English surnames are derived from given names like "Foo's
    son".  But that requires closer reading of R&W than I think most
    beginners would manage.)

(3) I learned blazonry by osmosis, going to heraldic commentary
    meetings, so I can't recommend a textbook to teach armory.
    But I think there needs to be one.

Unfortunately, that leaves off Joseph Foster, _The Dictionary of
Heraldry_, the large hardcover edition that has most of the coats of
arms colored in.  I love it because it gives the herald and the people
being consulted an idea of English earlyish period style (and England
being near ground zero for heraldry, that style is portable about
everywhere).  I think it's good to hand to clients just to leaf thru.
Anyone else think that's a good idea?

Also unfortunately, that also leaves off the Pictorial Dictionary,
which can be purchased from the SCA stock clerk ("SCA Marketplace")
off of the sca.org Web page.  It's a dictionary and it doesn't define
the tinctures and basic field divisions, so it doesn't teach.  It
doesn't have coats of arms, so you can't learn style (if you flip thru
it, you'll lock onto the weird stuff and get bad style).  But it does
have depictions for every charge used in SCA armory since 1992ish, and
gives their (then) SCA defaults, and gives real-world citations, so if
someone wants a hippogriff and three oddball crosses, say, you have a
hope of being able to blazon it and design it.

Three.  Ow.  Clare, you're a meanie.

Danihel Lindocolina
-- 
"Me, I love the USA; I never miss an episode." -- Paul "Fruitbat" Sleigh
Tim McDaniel; Reply-To: tmcd at panix.com