Brass Images: Medieval Lives

A memorial brass is an engraved two-dimensional likeness of an individual. From approximately 1100 to 1700, memorial brasses were popular in England and Europe. Typically, brasses were set within a stone frame or matrix into the floor of a church, often in front of the main altar. Sometimes the brass was set into the top surface of a raised tomb vault, called an altar or table tomb. Brasses may be in an institutional setting such as an almshouse (home for the aged poor) or set into a church wall.

Between 1969 and 1970, Carol T. Gallagher and her daughter, Susie, traveled throughout England sharpening an already written text by together finding, choosing, and creating brass rubbings best expressing exactly what they wanted the text to show. This book was originally published in 1980, and contains a visual collection of the brass rubbings Carol and Susan gathered, as well as the history, description and translation of each memorial brass. It has been revised in this edition to include an index and updated information as it was made known. The following reviews from the first edition of Brass Images: Medieval Lives (1980) show the excellence and quality of the work the Gallaghers have put into this wonderful collection of history and art:

"I recommend Brass Images: Medieval Lives as a useful introduction to English brasses. . . . The choice of examples [of rubbings] is attractive and the plates are pictorially exceptionally good. The material on medieval armor and costume is quite good. . . ." - H. K. Cameron, M.A., B.SC., Ph.D., F.R.I.C., F.S.A., Chairman of the Department of Archeology, Cambridge University, England, and President of the Monumental Brass Society ?

"Stunning! Really excellent reproductions and clear, readable writing style. Any library with an interest in art, genealogy, history or the human condition will want this book" - Dr. William a. Katz, Editor, The Reference Librarian, School of Library and Information Science, University of New York at Albany, New York

"This work illustrates effectively an art which flourished in England for half a millennium....The present judicious selection in a handsomely executed book, is a useful...reference work of enduring value....impeccably reproduced rubbings...." - AMERICAN NOTES AND QUERIES