Fower bookes of the institution of the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist

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Crest A greyhound courant collaredThis is one of a number of sets of stamps that are usually only found at Christ Church, Oxford. Paul Morgan identified this stamp as that of Sir John Tash, Sheriff of London in 1719, knighted the same year, who died in 1735 at the age of 62. This seems unlikely from the dates of the books on which they are found. As far as I have been able to discover, there is no family that uses both these crests, and at the beginning of the seventeenth century, to which the books and the bindings surely belong, it was unusual, though not quite unknown, for a family to use two crests. It is possible that what we have here are two members of Christ Church coming together to present books to their college. In which case the falcon ducally gorged probably represents a member of the St John family, of whom it is the historic crest. The greyhound courant is more widely used and I cannot offer a probable identification though Constable of Scotland does have it for a crest without the collar. [JM]