Customer Reviews

Heraldic Alphabet

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This has to be one of the rarest of things; a book on heraldry that is useful for beginners and serious students. And rarer still, the author shows occasional flashes of humor!

With hundreds of entries, this dictionary of heraldic terms is a godsend to students. J.P. Brooke-Little covers MANY terms, both familiar and obscure, and includes alternate spellings and obsolete terms that would be encountered in older blazons.

While no book of this sort could be comprehensive, "An Heralic Alphabet" is quite thourough, and a must have for any student of heraldry.

This is a grand primer for those who have just begun to be interested in heraldry. It has clear black & white line drawings and concise non-stuffy text descriptions of heraldic elements, with some basic rules for assembling them and describing the results. "An Heraldic Alphabet" is aimed primarily at English modern heraldry. It does not cover every possible charge; it does not cover continental variations in style or rules. It is a great place to start, before jumping into more comprehensive (and more expensive) sources, such as Stephen Friar's "History of Heraldry", Arthur Charles Fox-Davies' "A Complete Guide to Heraldry", or "Heraldry Sources, Symbols and Meaning" by Neubecker, Brook-Little, and Tobler. Those interested in medieval heraldry, and medieval recreationists, will need guidance from other sources, such as the other books here mentioned and from their re-creation group's particular rules.

What is heraldry? It's certainly something that most of the people in this country know absolutely nothing about. A long time ago, I was one of them. Today, however, I enjoy it. Okay, I love it.

Heraldry is all about great displays of color, design (even design as we do it today), fantastical animals, and history. It's a great way to teach children about drawing and design, to start them learning about the great people whose "arms" (as an individual's personal design is called) are often seen, like Richard the Lionheart, Henry VIII and his ladies, Queen Elizabeth and her family. It's a way of teaching about relationships that can be seen a family's heraldry through the years (and goggle at some of the most remarkable mishmashes you'l probably ever see).

This small book contains the basics that will open all of that to you. It is written by a former head of the British College of Arms (called the "Garter King of Arms"), and one of the great scholars on the subject. Yet, it is written in plain English (with a Queen's touch to it), with a sense of British humor to give a chuckle or two. There is a compendium of things and animals that are used in the creation of arms.

For those of us in the SCA, this is a precious little volume that will fit nicely in a traveling kit as a reminder of the basics to help when consulting with our clients.

But, no matter what you do with it, be sure to enjoy.