A DISPLAY OF HERALDRY BY JOHN GUILLIM 1638 THIRD EDITION

A DISPLAY OF HERALDRY BY JOHN GUILLIM 1638 THIRD EDITION

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[GUILLIM, JOHN]. A Display of Heraldrie: manifesting a more easie accesse to the knowledge thereof than hath beene hitherto published by any, through the benefit of method; Whereinto it is now reduced by the study and industry of Iohn Gvillim. London: Printed by Thomas Cotes for Jacob Blome. 1638.

The third edition, leather-bound, hardcover, folio (28.5cm x 19cm x 4cm), pp. [16], 167, 170-433, [1]; [26] additional alphabetical table (separately printed and dated 1640). Error in pagination. Signatures: (A)⁴ (a)⁴ B-3F⁴ 3G-3H⁶; A-B⁴ C⁵. English text in Roman letter, printed side-notes, woodcut initials, head- and tail-pieces; innumerable heraldic shields, nine full page woodcut armorial achievements described in considerable detail. Bound in contemporary full calf, spine with five raised bands; initial and terminal blanks present. Condition: FAIR. Collated complete, upper board held by one string, lower board detached, covers somewhat rubbed to extremities, interior lightly browned with some marking in the margins but largely well-preserved, leaf X⁴ with a small corner piece torn away, some old inking to front endpaper, armorial bookplate to front pastedown.

Notes: Third edition of Guillum s monumental work - A Display of Heraldrie was first written and published around 1610; and then was reprinted as early as 1611. There were six or seven further editions of the book following Guillim's death, with the last one being printed in 1724. Guillim was born in Gloucestershire and entered the College of Arms in London after finishing studies at Oxford. At the College he became a junior officer of arms, a Rouge Croix pursuivant, in 1618. Guillim was devoted to heraldic studies and to writing the Display which proved to be the best organized and most encyclopedic work of English heraldry of its time. In it, Guillim deals with the social history and beginnings of heraldry, the different images appearing on arms, the various kinds of escutcheons and the families to whom they belonged, all divided into six parts and then into subchapters which were each closely analyzed. The alphabetical table comprises the names of those families whose arms are contains in the Display so one could look people up with ease. Although a small addition to the volume it makes the work much more usable. In his dedication to the King, Guillim rightly claims the merit of his originality, writing, "I am the first who brought a method unto this heroic art." ESTC S120342.