ROTHE HOUSE
(click to enlarge)
Erected in 1594 by John Rothe, a wealthy
city merchant, and his wife, Rose Archer.
Collecting arms, crests and monograms: a forgotten pastime.
The exhibition which ran from Monday 30 June to Sunday 21 September 2003, is now ENDED
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The winner of the draw for the
framed printer's sample is: |
| Kilkenny Archaeological Society hosted this unique exhibition at its headquarters in the sixteenth century Rothe House. The house, a major tourist venue, is a complex of three buildings dating from 1594 to 1610, and is open to the public. |
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Handsome album cover |
The pastime is rightly described as forgotten. It is now remembered by a small number of collectors of crest albums and by others, if at all, from the albums of long dead relatives which have descended down the generations as family mementos. Yet it was extremely popular through the second half of the nineteenth century.
 A particularly nice example of a hand-drawn fan, a common subject in crest albums. (Click to enlarge pictures) |
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Novel and attractive example of hand decoration
from the album of an Irish collector.
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 Frontispiece from an album published by Stanley Gibbons & Co. |
BOOK. A book, Collecting Arms, Crests and Monograms was published by the Society to coincide with the exhibition. It comprises 48 pages and is lavishly illustrated in colour and black and white. This is the first book dealing with the pastime of crest collecting. Information is included on the engravers, printers and publishers who were involved in the promotion of the pastime, drawn largely from the author's extensive collection of crest albums and related material. An appendix deals with the little known anastatic printing process. The book is available from Rothe House, see Publications for sale.
SOUVENIR
CREST. The Society commissioned a commemorative
crest
as a memento of this unique exhibition. The crest, which features the Rothe
family arms and Rothe House, measures 3.5 x 5 cm and is die stamped on white
card (11.1 x 15.5 cm) suitable for framing. It is available in red and
green. See Publications for sale.
ARMS, CRESTS & MONOGRAMS. For more information and illustrations visit Edward Law's Crest Collecting page.
Page updated 11 March 2004