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Books of Instruction. 0569A: Anon., Sir Harry Herald's Graphical Representation of the Coronation Regalia

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Introductory essay

As the full title suggests, Sir Harry Herald's Graphical Representation divides neatly into two parts. The first details the office, costume and mode of address of the nobles of the realm from the Archbishop of Canterbury down to the Lord Mayor of London and his aldermen. There follows a concise description of the Crown Jewels and throne, ending with an account of the Yeoman of the Guard. In both sections, each page is divided into text and illustration. The attraction of the book was presumably that it offered the chance for some vicarious sight-seeing (in part two) and a semblance of social interaction with the aristocracy (in part one). Certainly the book sold. This was the fourth edition published by Harris within four years. Two had appeared in 1820, one a year later, and this fourth edition in 1824. The two later editions had their titles reversed, so that the representation of the coronation regalia was promised before the explanation of the costume and degrees of the different ranks (see Moon 1987: 112).

Sir Harry Herald's Graphical Representation formed part of the second series of 'Harris's Cabinet of Amusement and Instruction', published in the early 1820s. According to Marjorie Moon, Harris's bibliographer, the first series was brought out with great rapidity in 1807, 1808 and 1809, following the huge success of William Roscoe's Butterfly's Ball. These were 'funny, imaginative and altogether different from the pious moralisings that up till now, with a few honourable exceptions, were the literature of childhood.' (Moon 1987: 153) The second series included more instructional material, but still in a light-hearted way. The Hockliffe Collection possesses several other works from the series - see for instance, 0175, 0194, 0196, 0569B, 0569C, 0569D, 0569E, 0569G, 0569I, 0569J, 0569K, 0569L, 0569M, 0612 and 0668.