A COMPLETE BODY OF HERALDRY: CONTAINING AN HISTORICAL ENQUIRY ... [WITH] GLOVER'S ORDINARY OF ARMS, AUGMENTED AND IMPROVED; [WITH] AN ALPHABET OF ARMS, CONTAINING UPWARDS OF FIFTY THOUSAND COATS, WITH THEIR CRESTS, ETC. AND A COPIOUS GLOSSARY, EXPLAINING ALL THE TECHNICAL TERMS USED IN HERALDRY. IN TWO VOLUMES. ILLUSTRATED WITH COPPER PLATES

London: J. Dodsley, 1780. The First Edition set in two folio volumes; folio volumes; with engraved portrait frontispiece; list of subscribers.,22 full page engraved plates; in contemporary tree calf with a later professional reback, with original morocco labels laid down.From Moule's Bibliotheca Heradica: "Opposite the title of the first volume is the portrait of the author in his tabard and collar of SS, within an oval frame". "The dedication "To the King," 1 page; then a list of Subscribers, pp. 2, in which are both their Majesties, and four others of the Royal family, 18 Dukes (most of them for large-paper copies), 1 Marquess, 36 Earls, 11 Viscounts, I Bishop, 35 Barons, 40 Baronets, and 299 other subscribers, several of whom are for two sets, a tolerable proof of the interest which his work had excited, or of the success of his applications" [Moule, Bibliotheca Heraldica, p. 432]. Edmondson was a coach-painter, and a good one, who had a busy trade emblazoning coats of arms on carriages. He was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and an appointment in the College of Arms; these honors did not stop him from carrying on with his coach-painting business. (Inventory #: 268322)