English Heraldic Book-stamps

"English Heraldic Book-stamps" by Cyril Davenport is an early 20th-century exploration into the captivating realm of heraldic book adornments. It meticulously catalogs the various coats-of-arms and crests embellishing bookbindings throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland, accentuating their historical meaning and methods of recognition. Establishing the groundwork for an extensive study of these marks, the book emphasizes its content as merely a fraction of the undiscovered symbols still in existence. Davenport voices a strong wish to enhance the documentation of these emblems, as English heraldry in bookbinding, unlike its French counterpart, has historically received little scholarly focus. He traces heraldry’s origins back to its military beginnings and the gradual integration of coats-of-arms onto books from the late 1400s onwards, paving the path for the detailed descriptions and illustrations that compose the subsequent chapters.