Library

An Ever Growing Collection

Oak Hall Bookplate

The Oak Hall Library is hidden behind a small door under the grand staircase. Inside is a richly ornamented Gothic quatrefoil ceiling, with oak paneling, and floor to ceiling shelves filled with a unique collection of books, manuscripts, and maps.

While the library contains a collection spanning a vast array of antiquarian matters including vexillology, phaleristics, geography, feudalism, medieval European history, the British aristocracy, Scottish history, Napoleonic France, land tenure, estate management, and more, it specialises in heraldry, genealogy, and the nobiliary sciences. The individual books in the collection are not of great economic value, but the collection’s careful curation provides a comprehensive perspective on its primary areas of focus.

The Heraldry & Nobiliary Sciences Collection

The combination of titles in the Heraldry & Nobiliary Sciences Collection provide the discerning researcher a valuable opportunity to trace armigerous families from antiquity to modern times. A small sampling of some of the most interesting items from the Collection’s shelves:

1. 1805

   A History of the College of Arms The Rev. Mark Noble, FAS

2. 1716

   The Peerage of Scotland George Crawfurd, Esq.

3. 1676

   Divi Britannici: A Remark Upon the Lives of all of the Kings of this Isele Sir Winston Churchill, Kt.

4. 1867

   Examples of the Ornamental Herladry of the Sixteenth Century Sir William Stirling Maxwell

5. 1902

   Some Feudal Coats of Arms & Pedigrees Joseph Foster

6. 1741

   Baronia Anglica Thomas Madox, Esq.

7. 1864

   Armorial de la Noblesse de France M. Acquier

8. 1701

   La Nouvelle Methode Raisonnée Du Blason P.F.C. Menestrier

9. 1863

   The Law and Practice of Heraldry in Scotland George Seton, FSA (Scot)