V. & H. V. Rolland's Illustrations To The Armorial General (3 Volumes) by Rietstap, J. B - 1967

London, UK.: Heraldry Today. Good. 1967. Hardcover. Quarto - 28 x 21.5 cm.; Unpaginated. Blue cloth with gilt lettering on spine. Reproduced from the 1903 -1926 edition, this is the reprint (1000 copies) from 1967. The work took all of 23 years to complete with over 85,000 shields of Arms illustrating every Arms mentioned in the "Armorial General". 500 copies were printed in 1954 (Lyons) of which very few remain. In addition to the actual Arms illustrations, Volume I contains a preface, key to English, German, Spanish and Italian texts with a 7 page illustrated guide to the vocabulary of armorial design and layout with a one page Table of Abbreviations. In Volume 1, (I & II, A-F) there are 376 plates with 48 Arms per plate with the exception of the plates that are at the end or beginning of a particular letter sequence . Volume 2, (III & IV, G-O) has 331 plates with 48 Arms per plate with the same exception as noted above. Volume 3, (V & VI, P-Z) has 217 plates with 48 Arms per plate with the same exception. The working text is in French. The externals of all 3 volumes are scuffed and rubbed with bumped corners. The books are quite heavy and all exhibit slight play in the front and rear hinges with a repair having been made to the front hinge of volume 1. The binding is not strong enough to support the text block in its case as there is no mull cloth connecting spine to boards with the hinge being dependant solely on the end papers. A massive amount of work and then to be not properly bound, ah well, such is life. .