NOTE
Volume 1 is an alphabetical index by family name to the crests illustrated in Volume 2.
PREFACE TO THE PRESENT EDITION
FAIRBAIRN'S BOOK OF CRESTS" was first published .., 1859, and since that date had passed through some number of Editions prior to the year 1892, when the work was very thoroughly overhauled and revised under our direction.
The book had long ago established itself as a recognised work of reference, and as an indispensable adjunct to every library ; and being suitable to the needs and purposes of jewellers and engravers, it had also from its first publication been adopted and accepted as the standard work of reference for business and trade purposes. By far the larger proportion of armorial orders placed in the hands of tradesmen for execution are carried out with the assistance of " Fairbairn."
The ever-increasing number of new families and new grants of arms, and the constant immigration of families of foreign origin using crests hitherto found in no English book of reference, c.-eate from time to time the necessity of extensive additions to the eatries which the text contains. The large edition which we published in 1892 having been entirely exhausted, we availed ourselves of the opportunity afforded by the necessity of reprinting the volumf: us again submit the work to such revision as was required to bring it up to the present date.
This, we believe, will enable the book to maintain fully its old position and reputation as the only authoritative and the most complete collection of Crests and Mottoes in use in this country, a position in which it has hitherto had no rival. The question of the right of any particular person to the crest to which a claim is made depends upon proof of descent from the original grantee. Such proof often amounts to a highly controversial discussion, and it has seemed to us that we were not called upon for the purposes of the present work to adopt any such standard; rather otherwise, because the omission of a crest in consequence of a lack of proof of pedigree would create a hindrance to the use of the book by those handicraftsmen who need to refer to its pages.
PREFACE TO THE PRESENT EDITION
We therefore can give no guarantee of the official accuracy on the point of rightful inheritance. The existence of the original corpus of the book, which, when compiled, was never based upon the requirement of an official imprimatur for each crest, precludes therein any adoption of the official standard.
The additions to the text in the present edition have been considerable, but the overwhelming bulk of these additions has been obtained from sources not in themselves official, certainly, but purporting to be based upon information having a more or less official character. Such being the case, we can unhesitatingly assert that in the present edition the proportion of officially authorized crests is infinitely higher than in any previous edition of the work, not even excepting the edition of 1892. As to the remainder, the position is now as it was then; we have no exact knowledge, and the crests may or may not be authoritative.
THE PUBLISHERS.
EXTRACT FROM THE EDITOR'S PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION OF 1892.
THE origin of Heraldry has puzzled wiser and abler heads than mine; indeed, it would be folly to attempt, in the Preface to a Work of this character, to discuss the matter at all; but the whole subject may be said to resolve itself into the query, " Where does mere ornamentation end, and where does Heraldry 'aswe know it' begin ?" The generally received opinion seems to be that the Crusades were coeval with, if, indeed, they were not the cause of, the birth of Heraldry, its laws, and its emblems.
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