The Comic History of Heraldry

The Comic History of Heraldry.
First published in 1878 by R. H. Edgar and Illustrated by William Vine. Part of The Armorial Register's Classic Heraldry and History Series. A must for your heraldic book collection with this Tongue-in-cheek look at heraldry. The book is in paperback with 144 pages and 94 illustrations reproduced by facsimile from the original book and is A5, 6in wide x 8in tall (14.81cm wide x 20.99cm tall).

ISBN 978-1-326-46137-9.



Price: £9.50 UK Pounds + Shipping & Packaging
http://www.armorialregister.com/heraldry-shop.html

First Day Covers - White Lion Society

I meant to post this earlier but it slipped my mind. Back in September I received the following note from Adrian Barham, Honorary Treasurer of the White Lion Society:

"In our May Newsletter we advertised the availability of a limited edition set of First Day Covers (FDCs) produced by the Society and featuring the Heraldic Beasts Post & Go stamps issued by Royal Mail on 13th May 2015. These proved to be extremely popular, and sold out very quickly (with a long reserve list of members who were disappointed).

However, I am delighted to report that the British Postal Museum and Archive (BPMA) selected the Lion stamp from the Heraldic Beasts issue to be its overprinted re-issue, on 16th September 2015. This means that a set of six stamps featuring just the Lion design were re-issued on that date, featuring an overprint on the stamp saying “The B.P.M.A.”.

As a significant number of members missed out on the original First Day Cover sets, and with the kind assistance of the BPMA, we have produced a further First Day cover for the re-issue on 16th September. These have used the same White Lion Society envelope design as the original FDCs, but have a choice of either a BMPA special postmark or a Berkhamsted special postmark (to match the Society’s address on the envelope). In addition, they feature a White Lion stamp and a postmark commemorating the 530th anniversary of the Battle of Bosworth, at which King Richard III, founder of the College of Arms, was killed. Examples of the two covers are shown in the attached PDF.
These are again limited to just 25 covers using each of the postmarks (50 covers in total), with priority being given to members who missed out on the original offer. The cost is £15 per cover, with postage being the same as last time (£2.00 for UK addresses, £6.75 for Europe and £7.50 for Rest of World).



If you would like to purchase one of the FDCs, please send an e-mail to me at treasurer@whitelionsociety.org to check availability (indicating which postmark you would prefer) and to agree the best way to send payment (particularly if ordering from overseas).
As ever, profits from the sale of these products helps to support the work of the College. Please consider purchasing, even if you do not normally collect stamps. The FDCs make wonderful display items.
Yours sincerely,
Adrian Barham

Honorary Treasurer

Heraldic Study Day - Report

Derrick Walkden, organiser of the Heraldic Study Day held on 1st October last at Salford, has circulated his report which I have placed on-line for all to see here.

Grant of Arms to a Camera Dealership

I stumbled across this report a couple of days ago. In the good tradition of newspaper/magazine reporting the headline is completely erroneous (it isn't a grant of arms to Nikon at all but rather one to the company of Grays of Westminster, a Nikon camera dealership. An informative read despite the headline.

http://www.professionalphotographer.co.uk/News-and-Reviews/2014/11/Coat-of-Arms-awarded-to-Nikon

Saint Edward the Confessor

Until about 1350, Edmund the Martyr, Gregory the Great and Edward the Confessor had all been regarded as English national saints, but Edward III preferred the more war-like figure of St George, and in 1348 he established the Order of the Garter with St George as its patron. It seems however, that Edward the Confessor remained the Patron Saint of the English Royal Family.

The 13th of October is set down by the Church as the feast day for St. Edward the Confessor and, as we approach the appointed day, I have been giving some thought to adding this feast day to my list of “flag flying days” (I was Christened in St. Edward’s Church, Leek, so it seems appropriate to add it). However, I have never been too fond of the attributed arms of Edward the Confessor (1003 – 1066); they have always ever so slightly troubled me.

Though never actually used by Edward (heraldry did not exist at that time), they were created several centuries after his death, probably by, or for, Richard II, in the late 1300’s, when he used the coat as part of his own achievement. It is thought that the design supposedly was inspired by the reverse of one of Edward the Confessor’s coins which had a cross with a martlet in each quadrant. If that is the case, and I have no reason to doubt that it, why on earth did the designer add that extra martlet which, in my humble opinion, completely unbalances the shield and is completely unnecessary.