Seals in medieval London 1050-1300

摘要

This is an important book. In its own words, it is 'the first substantial volume dedicated to the seals of an urban community in the British isles'. It contains coloured images of impressions of 1439 seals attached to early-medieval documents, representative of those used in London in this period. For each we are given the owner's name, the measurements and the document's date, the design is identified and the legend transcribed, and in these last the author's knowledge and expertise are plainly apparent. In many cases more than one impression of the seal is reproduced, enabling us to see how several damaged or faint impressions can be taken together to show us the entire seal, and indeed what may seem a rather contrary virtue of the book is that it shows us seal impressions as they really are; usually it is only the perfect - and thus utterly untypical - impression that finds its way to being illustrated.