Fairbairn's Book of Crests of the Families of Great Britain and Ireland (2 Volumes Set)

This register of all crests known to have been in use in Great Britain and Ireland is the definitive book in its field. The main part of this encyclopedic work is an alphabetical list of about 50,000 names associated with various crests (the ornaments and devices attached to a helmet or coronet and pictured above the shield in a coat-of-arms), with a full description of each crest and a reference to the plate in which it is illustrated. Next is a section containing a list of 5,000 mottoes and the names of the families using them. There is also a key to the plates, which cross-indexes the names of the families assigned to each crest, and a dictionary of terms which serves as a glossary. The illustrated portion--its chief feature--consists of 314 full-page plates with beautiful engravings of about 5,000 crests.