All others of my friends who love armour, and whose names I have not mentioned, will, I trust, accept the general expression of my sincere gratitude. I am the more ready to think that they will be content with such expression on my part because I know the tribe so well. I know that the freemasonry which unites collectors goes to a friendship which no lapse of years ever lessens and which renews itself each time the familiar question is put: "Well, what have you come across since last we met?"
A last look at my volumes reminds me of many alleys down which I might have strayed. I could, for instance, have pursued the chapter on forgeries to much greater length, but in that section of this work I know that I move over very thin ice. I could easily have filled the chapter with illustrations and descriptions of the famous forgeries of armour and weapons which are contained in English collections; but I am not eager for controversy: I write peacefully of this warlike gear and would not wound the susceptibilities of any collector. If any old tradition should suffer, or any family treasure lose its good name, I wish it to be understood that all that I have written in my book has been in the pursuit of truth.
I desire to express my most grateful thanks for permission to reproduce illustrations contained in these volumes to the following:
The Trustees of the British Museum, the Trustees of the National Gallery, the Board of Education (Victoria and Albert Museum), the Curator of the Tower of London Armoury, the Director of the Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh, the Director of the Royal United Service Institution, the College of Arms, the Society of Antiquaries of London, the Royal Archaeological Institute of Great Britain, the Committee of the Royal Artillery Institution, the Royal Regiment of Artillery, the Burlington Fine Arts Club, the Dean and Chapter of the Abbey Church of Westminster, the Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral Church of Canterbury, the Director of the Belfast Museum, the Curator of the City Museum, Norwich, the Librarian of New College, Oxford, the Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and the Curator of the Public Museum, Sheffield.
The Corporations of the City of London, Bristol, Coventry, Hull, Lincoln, Newcastle, and York.
The Curator of Armour of the Metropolitan Museum of New York.
The Director of the Musée du Louvre, Paris, the Director of the Musée
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