Orsolya's Reviews > Royal Seals: Images of Power and Majesty

Before hand-written signatures became the go-to identifier and/or official sign-off; certification was made legal by the use of seals: device (image) and legend (text) imprints pressed into softened wax and affixed to documents. All readers of history texts and even historical fiction tend to be familiar with this practice. There was more to a seal than just being the symbol of official correspondence, however. These seals served as a branding tool to visually dictate blood lineage, class status, profession, location and various other tidbits of information. Who knew that ‘branding’ wasn’t solely a modern-day marketing contrivance?! Dr. Paul Dryburgh - the Principal Records Specialist at The National Archives in England – introduces readers to part of their seal archival collection in, “Royal Seals: Images of Power and Majesty”.

“Royal Seals” is a full-color, glossy-paged history coffee table book that appendages the collection of seals at The National Archives and showcases them by division of Royal Seals, Personal Seals and Ecclesiastical Seals. Naturally, this is a curated textual exhibition as the entire collection residing at The National Archives would fill several volumes and thus Dryburgh had the difficult task of selecting which artifacts to highlight. “Royal Seals” immediately illuminates readers with an education on the usage of seals, how they were made, who utilized them, etc; and therefore “Royal Seals” offers a compelling grace both for research and/or entertainment purposes. Dryburgh maintains a middle-ground tone approach that is familiar and casual; but still enforces credibility and professionalism making “Royal Seals” perfectly accessible for the average reader.

Each section of “Royal Seals” gloriously revisits history spotlighting specific seals and their owners while explaining the historical impact at the time of use and on predecessors. Simultaneously, Dryburgh familiarizes the artistic merits of the seal with its actual creation and visual impact. The first section features the seals of the English monarchy and marches along in chronological order accompanied with stunning photographs of the actual seal per discussion. The text is detailed and explanatory; but with a moving pace that entraps in its own right alongside the images.

Unfortunately, this isn’t pimpled without some negatives as Dryburgh often comments on intricate aspects of the seals that can NOT be noticed in the photos no matter how hard one squints or holds the pages to one’s eyes. These are probably only ascertained with the seal in hand or under a magnifying glass. This does come with some frustration to readers. Added to this, is Dryburgh’s habit of diving into the details of monarchial seals that aren’t visually demonstrated. Why mention these seals at all if the pages aren’t supplemented with the images?

“Royal Seals” progresses into the seals of nobility, women, tradesmen and onward to the clergy and ecclesiastical powers. It is invigorating to see the seal of laymen (aside from just royalty) as readers can understand the usage of seals in comparison to today’s notarized seals of authenticity or ink-stamps on documents. There are examples of repetition among the text that elicits reader groans (“You’ve already said this, Dryburgh!”); but it isn’t terribly disadvantageous to “Royal Seals”, overall.

Dryburgh culminates the text with a conclusion quickly traversing a look at how seal were produced in relation to the actual materials, chemical compositions of the colors, monetary values and lasting effects. This would have made sense in the beginning of “Royal Seals” but it is understandable given that Dryburgh wanted to explain the seals in a preliminary exercise so that the details are more dissected. The finality does feel abrupt and suddenly ‘ends’ without a proper summation. Dryburgh attempts to remedy this with a short list of sources for additional reading/research.

Despite some minor flaws, “Royal Seals” is a beautiful visual representation and conversational discussion of the history of seals in England and is certainly recommended for history-lovers interested in this niche subject. “Royal Seals” is a lovely addition to any art coffee table or on a history fan’s bookshelves.