This is the time of year when I have to pay to have my web hosting and URL renewed. And so it’s the time of year when I come, hat in hand, to ask for donations.

Many of you have donated in the past, and I am truly grateful. I’m not asking you to donate again. But I know there are a lot of people using the Pictorial Dictionary, and surely a small fraction of those who’ve not donated could see their way to contributing what they feel the resource is worth? It would help keep the site online, without resorting to pop-up ads; no one wants those.

There’s a link in the upper corner. Please consider using it. Thank you.

So among my other activities, I collect medieval and Renaissance grants of arms. These are almost entirely English — which is reasonable, since the English College of Arms is one of the few that were active then and still active now.

Looking them over, I have 13 grants from the 15th Century, 26 grants from the 16th Century, and 6 grants from the early 17th Century. (I’m not interested in anything later than that.) Plus four of unknown date. Enough for some stylistic analysis, heh heh heh.

(Yes, I know.  I really need to post more often.)

In terms of progress on the Online Pictorial Dictionary, I’m down to the last four letters of the alphabet.  I have high hopes that all the images will be posted and current by May Day 2016.  After that comes the e-pub, pdf and paper editions.  Not so easy to update, but more useful in the field.

I’ll keep everyone in the loop.

Occasionally, I update the images already posted in the Pictorial Dictionary.  Sometimes, it’s because I just wasn’t happy with the older image, and I feel I can do better.  Other times, it’s because changes in the College’s artistic standards make it prudent:  the older image might not still be acceptable, or perhaps it’s now questionable.  In any case, I do not wish anyone using PicDic images to suffer for that choice.

In this case, the lynx-eyed among you may notice a new depiction of the polypus, just posted.

Not quite done with the online version of the Pictorial Dictionary, but the end is in sight.  Part of the reason I’m taking so long is, of course, drawing images of all the new charges we’ve accepted since the Nineties; but I’m also redrawing many of the original images.  Partly because, in some cases, I never liked the original drawing and I can do it better now; and in some cases, because subsequent rulings have made my drawings, if not unacceptable, still not something I’d advocate folks use.

I have, for instance, just redrawn the compass rose to conform to new documentation and current Wreath rulings.  If you have any questions on whether a particular image is old, new, or NEW-new, drop me a line.

That’s Known World Heraldic and Scribal Symposium, for those of you who dislike acronyms.  This year it’s in Toronto, last weekend in June, and I will be teaching classes.  Two of them, in fact:  “Documenting from Period Sources”, where I explain all the uses of those period rolls of arms; and my “Overview of Regional Heraldic Styles”, which I taught in the West Kingdom last year.

The KWHSS website is here, at http://eoforwic.ca/kwhss2015/, and if you’re in the Toronto area, stop in and say hello.

I didn’t receive much response to my last post, so I will now announce:  I intend to have all the text entries for Pictorial Dictionary 3 entered by the Known World Heraldic and Scribal Symposium.  I’ll add the illustrations later, as quickly as I can.

Note that I may always return to an entry and edit it — either the text or the illustration — as I think of improvements.

Also, my previous offer stands:  if there’s a charge not yet posted to the PicDic, and you want it to “jump the queue”, I will always give preference to those who support the site.  Make a donation, in whatever amount you think appropriate, and let me know in the comments.