A Manual of Heraldry for Amateurs. DALLAWAY (Harriet).

THE STUDY OF HERALDRY INTENDED FOR LADIES

Woodcut illustrations throughout.

First edition. 8vo. [183 x 110 x 15 mm]. viii, 169 pp. Bound in publisher's glazed red calico, paper label to the spine, edges uncut. (Light bumping to the extremities, the odd minor stain to the boards).

London: Printed by S. and R. Bentley for William Pickering, Chancery Lane, 1828

Text block clean, a near fine copy. Contemporary bookplate of W. W. R[ichards] to the front paste down, from the library of John Porter.

Dedicated to "Miss Henrietta Howard Molyneux, this slight essay, compiled at her request, and intended to facilitate the study of heraldry, in its invention, history, and practice, by a concise explanation". In a review in the same year of its publication by 'The Gentleman's Magazine', it lauds it as "a well compiled treatise, elegantly embellished, and particularly adapted for those of the fair sex who engage in that delightful study" (The Gentleman's Magazine, vol 98, p.159). In her final chapter titled "Practical Hints for the Study of Heraldry", the author confirms "this little essay is intended chiefly for the use of my own sex, or amateurs of heraldry, who may have tastes for such pursuits". Charmingly she encourages the reader to colour the heraldic figures as they see fit, "by being so coloured, these books are much increased in beauty and value; colour being as necessary as form, to identify the family to whom a coat of arms belongs", (this copy being uncoloured as of yet).

Harriet Anne Jefferis (d. 1867), married James Dallaway (1763-1834), who himself had a keen interest in the study of heraldry, in 1793 publishing the 'Inquiries into the Origin and Progress of the Science of Heraldry in England, with Explanatory Observations on Armorial Ensigns'.

Stock no. ebc9297