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

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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.

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.

I purchased this item as a gift. She hasn't asked me to return it or throw it out for her, so I guess she likes it.

Quite a few excellent line drawings of heraldic crests. Although there is no index included in this book, the index can be found online as 'Fairbairn's book of crests 1905 edition" at archive.org

Use this all the time. The best one I have come across thus far.

I saw this book at the library and checked it out. I can't wait until I have my own copy. This is a great book for the artist who wants to use these drawings for inspiration. The pictures are in black and white. If you want a book that gives history of crests and coat of arms, you will be disappointed.

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!

This is a fascinating and useful collection but the lack of any sort of index makes it time consuming to use.

Good book if you need a template to design your own crest or to find a family crest provided you know what it is. There is no narrative at all.

There is no text at all in this book (except for a very short intro). It contains page after page of badly reproduced illustrations floating in white space - so they are all out of any context. I guess the title is spot on.