New online resource for British Armorial Bindings

By slawler on July 27, 2012 • ( 0 )

A new online resource for armorial bindings, which features a number of Special Collections bindings, has been launched at http://armorial.library.utoronto.ca/

Record for Select Scottish Ballads (Sp Coll RB2519-2520) on the British Armorials database

Record for Select Scottish Ballads on the British Armorials database

Begun by John Morris and continued by Philip Oldfield (who visited Special Collections on a number of ocassions while working on this project), the catalogue attempts to record all known British armorial bookbinding stamps used by personal owners and features over 3,300 stamps used between the 16th and 20th centuries.

While the primary aim of the database is to enable the identification of heraldic stamps, it offers a number of different ways of searching. Stamps can be searched by heraldic device, while owners can be searched by name, rank or gender. It is also possible to search for book title and author, as well as by library.

Items from Special Collections are listed under University of Glasgow and Hunterian Library, University of Glasgow.

The database has been created and hosted at the University of Toronto and is sponsored by the Bibliographical Society.

Those with an interest in heraldry may also be interested in this February 2008 book of the month article, featuring a heraldic manuscript.