Fairbairn's Book of Crests

Fairbairn's Book of Crests is a compendium of heraldic crests and armorial bearings compiled in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that served as a reference for antiquarians, genealogists, and artists interested in heraldry. The work circulated among practitioners in London, collectors connected to the British Museum, and members of learned societies such as the Society of Antiquaries of London and the Heraldry Society. It became a source for clerical officers at the College of Arms and for provincial record-keepers in Scotland, Ireland, and Wales.

Background and Publication History

Fairbairn assembled materials during a period when interest in genealogy and antiquarian studies increased alongside publications like works by Sir Walter Scott and catalogues from the V&A Museum. The book was issued in several formats and editions, with prominent printings around the turn of the century in Edinburgh and London that coincided with the activities of the Society of Genealogists and the growing remit of the Public Record Office. Its circulation intersected with exhibitions at institutions such as the Royal Academy and the British Library, and it was used by artists trained at the Royal College of Art and engravers associated with firms in the City of Westminster. Editions were acquired by private collectors related to families recorded in registers at the College of Arms and by municipal archives in cities like Birmingham and Manchester.

Content and Structure

The book organizes heraldic crests alphabetically and by surname, drawing on sources ranging from roll books compiled during the reign of Edward I to municipal grants recorded under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835. Entries typically include a blazon, a rendered crest image, and concise provenance notes citing patents recorded at the College of Arms or Lyon Court documents from Edinburgh. Appendices and indices cross-reference families with estates in counties such as Yorkshire, Devon, Kent, and Cornwall, and often mention connections to continental houses appearing in records from Normandy and the Low Countries. The arrangement benefits researchers tracing pedigrees alongside volumes like compilations by Burke and directories published under the imprint of Kelly's.

Artistic Style and Engraving Techniques

Illustrations in the book reflect engraving and chromolithography methods practiced in workshops near the Thames and within the printing districts of Fleet Street. Plates show line engraving conventions akin to those used by commercial studios supplying the Royal Society and decorative commissions for the Guildhall. Artists employed visual vocabulary comparable to that seen in the manuscripts conserved at the Bodleian Library and in illuminated heraldic rolls associated with the College of Arms collections. Techniques include stipple, hatching, and hand-coloring applied after press runs, paralleling processes used by firms that illustrated atlases and natural history works for the Natural History Museum and the Royal Geographical Society.

Reception and Influence

Scholars and practitioners in the early 20th century cited the book in correspondence among figures linked to the British Heraldry Society and in marginalia preserved in the papers of antiquaries who contributed to journals such as the Archaeological Journal and Notes and Queries. Civic heralds and municipal archivists in Liverpool and Glasgow used it as a quick reference alongside official grants from the College of Arms and the Court of the Lord Lyon. Its visual repertoire influenced stained glass commissions in churches restored under initiatives promoted by Augustine Pugin-informed architects and was referenced in guidebooks produced for county historians like Samuel Lewis and John Bartholomew. Later heraldic compendia and commercial emblem books incorporated or adapted plates from Fairbairn's collection, a practice that intersected with debates at the Royal Institute of British Architects about authenticity and reproduction of historic ornament.

Notable Entries and Examples

Examples include crests attributed to families with historical prominence recorded in national documents: entries referencing families connected to the Plantagenet legacy, landholders who appear in the Domesday Book, gentry families that served in the Hundred Years' War, and municipal arms granted after civic charters associated with the Magna Carta era. Individual entries cite heraldic bearings for surnames that intersect with biographies of figures commemorated in parish registers and county histories referencing persons like members of the Howard family, the Percy family, and the Fitzgeralds. Military associations are noted where arms coincide with campaigns involving the English Civil War and later service in regiments listed in Army rolls under the auspices of the War Office. The book also preserves local emblems from market towns and boroughs that later appear in municipal seals catalogued by county record offices in Cheshire, Norfolk, and Somerset.

Category:Heraldry books Category:British reference works