A Dictionary Of Chivalry
Where was this book when I was eight years old? Or even when I was an active member of the Society for Creative Anachronism? It's hugely informative but also marvelously readable. Sure, it's alphabetized, and you can look things up, but it begs to be read from cover to cover . . . and then dipped into again and again, forever.
Written by Grant Uden and beautifully illustrated by Pauline Baynes, this was written in 1968 (okay, so it didn't quite exist yet when I was eight, but whatever). Yet the text is as enduring as the Matter of England and as fresh as your dreams. It deals in history and heraldry, war and peace, daily life of the nobles and the commonfolk, agreeable fictions like Amadis the Gaul and tragic truths like Agincourt. And, of course, arms and armor. So much arms and armor . . .
The copy I have in hand is ex-library, and stamped in the front "OBSOLETE." So wrong, so very wrong.
PS - After writing this, I charged onto the net and got my own copy. It was spendier than I had anticipated. If the mini-review above makes you want your own, write yourself a note and do it in a few months, after more copies have leaked onto the market, because the next-highest price after the one that I snagged was simply insane.