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

Rating:
Summary: Victorian Heraldry on its Best... and Worst
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Victorian Heraldry on its Best... and Worst
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Good collection of high resolution, black-and-white images.
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Great resource for designing your coat of arms
Review: 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!

Rating:
Summary: resource book for designing new crests, not finding old ones
Review: 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.