A genealogical and heraldic history of the commoners of Great Britain and Ireland enjoying territorial possessions or high official rank, but uninvested with heritable honours
John Burke's multi-volume reference of 1836, published in London by Henry Colburn, records the pedigrees and arms of British and Irish landed families holding property or office without inherited titles. The 215 woodcuts are small line-drawn shields with crests above them, showing beasts, birds, chevrons, roundels and quartered fields in flat black outline, usable as compact emblems, spot ornaments or badge silhouettes.
