Customer Reviews

Heraldic Crests: A Pictorial Archive of 4,424 Designs for Artists and Craftspeople (Dover Pictorial Archive)

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A set of over 4,000 crest designs, but what a disappointment! The true heraldic craftsmen drew their inspiration from true heraldic sources, i.e. the Middle Ages. After 1600 or so heraldry went into a steep decline, culminating in the truly awful Victorian concept of depicting the 'real' thing, as opposed to the brutal and wonderful power of the symbolic art of earlier craftsmen. Thus we're stuck with 'real' lions and dragons and any kind of object, complete with shadowing. Well, the book was published in 1859, so I should have known better.... If you're interested in Victorian heraldry, it's a wonderful book. If you're interested in real heraldry it's a waste of money. Try the compilations of Sir Anthony Wagner instead. Now t h a t is true heraldic power.

Enlarged versions of the black-and-white heraldic designs common to most coats of arms and crests. Perfect for scanning and easily adaptable by experienced graphic designers. Originally published in smaller versions in Fairbairn's Book of Crests.

While this volume provides thousands of clip art purporting to be heraldic Crests, you will not find any reference to identify which name the Crests are registered to. You will not find any reference to what the charge in the Crest means, nor will you find reference to the colors that the charges should be. What you will find are generic images resembling heraldic charges in black and white. Please note that those who are expert in heraldic Coats of Arms and Crests (and there is a distinct difference if you do not know), or those interested in improving their knowledge of them, will be deeply disappointed in this book, if you are looking for reference material. Coats of Arms are frequently and mistakenly referred to as Crests. Coats of Arms are the shields carried by knights, cavaliers, etc. during the Medieval Age, which were determined by the monarch of the country for which the knight served. To use the images of this book to put together a unique Coat of Arms for one's own family is to do so without any thought to the meaning of the charges. Each charge and each color determines a virtue recognized and honored by the monarch in the presentation of the Arms, while Crests (always displayed above the knight's helmet) are colors and charges chosen by the patriarch of the family to represent the virtues he wished to preserve in the family line. Most Western European names have coats of arms already registered with the College of Arms of that nation to represent their families and responsible dealers of these can provide them - this book will not help anyone find their own coat of arms or any explanation of their meaning.

No text or explanations of the different symbols in this book. If you're looking for a resource to get ideas for your coat of arms, then this is what you want. Very comprehensive array of pictures. I scanned the pictures I needed, imported them into Photoshop and voila! A great looking coat of arms!

This book includes hundreds of components of potential crest designs shown in black and white on plates. It does not include any family names, family crests, or or any type of index to the images included in the book.

Fantastic and completely comprehensive pictorial book of heraldic designs. Much needed to complete a fairly obscure project I was working on, and sure enough, there is another Dover book to help out. Very much worth the purchase!

Moderately useful, but all of the images are Victorian era lithograph in style, and have lost a lot of whatever flair they might have had. Color was not expected, but without blazon (heraldic description) or any other reference other than plate number, only the images are of any use. There is no table of contents, and although the images are grouped according to their central character (lion, tree, etc.), that is the extent of it. There is some mention of another archive, but not in a complete context. Hunting for it may be more of a chore than throwing your hands up and finding something else. I'm not even going to try. Also, since the images are in roughly the same style, an estimate of time period or place from one's own judgement of history is nearly impossible.
Still, there are a lot of images, and by themselves are inspirational to some extent.
Overall, not a complete waste, but not worth it, either.