OXFORD COLLEGE ARMS | Zoom Talk, August 20

In 2019, the Oxford University Society of Washington, DC sponsored a talk on Oxford College Arms by the Oxbridge Pursuivant.

This will be repeated via Zoom on August 20, 2020. The event is sponsored by a joint North American team of the three capital-city branches of the Oxford University Society—Washington, D.C.; Ottawa, Canada; and Mexico City.

To get a copy, ahead of the talk, of the 4th Edition of the 112-page full-color printed book, go to Amazon or your favorite bookstore.

Amazon offers the book for $20, with free delivery. It also offers the Kindle version for $5.99. There is even a used-book market. Type "Oxford College Arms" in Google and you should get transported to the Amazon page for the book.

Or use this link to get to the same place: https://www.amazon.com/Oxford-College-Arms-Intriguing-Stories/dp/0984523235.

Meanwhile, here is a review of the book, by Kirkus Reviews: https://theoxbridgepursuivant.blogspot.com/2020/05/oxford-college-arms-kirkus-reviews.html.

You can get a flavor of the book by checking out the free pages posted on the Amazon site, or the Index to the 4th Edition here: https://theoxbridgepursuivant.blogspot.com/2020/05/oxford-college-arms-index-to-4th-ed.html.

Another way to fill your day as you hunker down to elude the Covid-19 disease is to look at the Oxonian Birthday List posted by the Oxford Pursuivant here: https://theoxbridgepursuivant.blogspot.com/2020/07/birthdays-oxonians-july-2020.html.

OXFORD NORTH AMERICA | May Author of the Month—The Oxbridge Pursuivant

Oxford College Arms, 4th ed.

As a celebration of Oxford's alumni authors, each month the Oxford University North American website features a new book written by one of the University's North American-based alumni. The May 2020 book is "Oxford College Arms: Intriguing Stories Behind Oxford's Shields" by the Oxbridge Pursuivant, John Tepper Marlin (Trinity 1962), who has been on the Committee organizing the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race Dinner in New York City for 50 years. Go to the website, or read the text here:

John Tepper Marlin graduated from Harvard in 1962, having been the first editor of the Let’s Go Guide to Europe. He went on to read PPE at Trinity College. English education was no mystery to him because he spent three years at Ampleforth College, which then had its junior forms at Gilling Castle and the Junior House. At Gilling Castle he says he ate his meals in the dining room with stained-glass windows featuring the arms of the Yorkshire cousins of Oliver Cromwell’s General, Sir Thomas Fairfax. He dates his interest in coats of arms to that period.

John Tepper Marlin with Hachikō.

The fourth edition of his book Oxford College Arms recently came out. Kirkus Reviews praised the book as offering “unfailingly clear language, … as rationally organized as it is informative. This idiosyncratic slice of history actually opens an intriguing portal into the whole of British history since the heraldic symbols signify what should be praised as well as what should be condemned. … "[F]or those in search of a confident guide to these meaningful hieroglyphics, it would be difficult to find one superior to Marlin’s effort. An astute exploration of Oxford’s coats of arms.”

Dr. Marlin features a different college every month on his website, The Oxbridge Pursuivant. This month the college is Lady Margaret Hall, and he offers a contest. The first person to answer correctly ten questions related to Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII, gets a free copy of Oxford College Arms. He has given talks on his book in London, Oxford, New York City and Washington, D.C.

You can purchase Oxford College Arms: Intriguing Stories Behind Oxford's Shields here.

OXFORD COLLEGE ARMS | Kirkus Reviews It!

May 1, 2020—The following enthusiastic review of Oxford College Arms was just issued by New York-based (since 1933) Kirkus Reviews: 

“Marlin meticulously covers each college, discussing its unique history, the meaning of its coat of arms, and its specific educational mission. 

"Each coat of arms is loaded with nearly esoteric symbolic meanings, and the author expertly interprets—to borrow an apt coinage from Richard Lofthouse’s preface—the “peculiar language of heraldry.” … 

"The author’s descriptions are composed in unfailingly clear language, and the entire work is as rationally organized as it is informative. This idiosyncratic slice of history actually opens an intriguing portal into the whole of British history since the heraldic symbols signify what should be praised as well as what should be condemned. … 

"[F]or those in search of a confident guide to these meaningful hieroglyphics, it would be difficult to find one superior to Marlin’s effort. An astute exploration of Oxford’s coats of arms.”

Here is the review in its entirety: