A Dictionary of Chivalry

Grant Uden, author; Pauline Baynes, illustrator 

Published by Longmans Young Books Ltd., London and Harlow, 1968

First edition SBN: 582 153719

Pauline Baynes won the Kate Greenaway Medal for her captivating illustrations for this book on chivalry, and if her style looks familiar, you may have seen her previous work. Baynes produced artwork for J.R.R. Tolkien and for C.S. Lewis, most notably his collection of Narnia books. 

The 1,000+ entries in The Dictionary of Chivalry are arranged alphabetically like any other dictionary, but what is stunningly unique are the borders. Like a medieval text, every margin on every page is filled with Bayne's beautiful, intricate illustrations, some in colour, some in black-and-white - all worth poring over for their beauty and the story they tell.

This hardcover first edition, 352 pp., (16cm x 24cm) is in very good condition. The plastic cover on the dust jacket is slightly bent on the inner flap in the front and has a wee nick in the bottom right corner on the outside. There is a thin streak of paper stainage on the back inner flap and some dulling on the text-block. Otherwise, pristine.

 For sale by Priory Books, Warwickshire County Record Office's secondhand bookshop