Bard's Gate
Gyldenholt, Caid
6 February 1983, XVII A.S.





Unto all who come to receive these letters,

from Baldwin of Erebor, editor of the Laurel Precedents.

Greetings:

Your copy of the second edition of Precedents III is enclosed. Thank you very much for your order.

I received a total of forty orders from six kingdoms, with most of the copies going to Atenveldt and the Midrealm.

The quality of the printing is not quite up to the standard I had hoped for, for which I apologize. In addition to occasional blurring and streaking, I found several copies with blank or missing pages. Please inspect your copy, and let me know if anything is missing. I checked all the copies myself, and believe I have repaired all the defects, but such operations are wearisome, and hence prone to error. Each copy should have a title page, a disclaimer, twelve pages of introductory material, 104 pages of text, and a four-page reference list.

I have been asked why I chose not to advertise Precedents III in the kingdom newsletters. There were several reasons, the chief of which was timeliness. So long as Laurel King-of-Arms continues to ignore his own rulings and contemn those of his predecessors, College of Arms policy will change from month to month. Advertisement in the newsletters would have delayed Precedents III an additional four to six weeks, making it nine months out of date by the time it became available. I did not feel this was acceptable, and chose instead to advertise through the kingdom, principality, and regional heralds, to whom an heraldic source of this sort would be of greatest use.

I would be interested in knowing your opinion of Precedents III. Is it what you expected? Is there anything you particularly like or dislike about it? Is there anything I could have done to make the text clearer? Have you found any mistakes? Did I overlook anything important? Do you find the volume useful? How do you use it? Should the emphasis of the volume have been more on analysis and less on quotation? Does it make sense to codify the Laurel rulings when they change so frequently? Your comments would assist me greatly in the preparation of any future editions of this volume, as well as of the other two volumes in this series.

Work on the revised editions of Precedents I and II proceeds apace. Precedents II is presently being reviewed, after which I will make the final revisions. The text runs to about fifty pages at present, with an additional ten or so pages of supplementary material. I hope to begin soliciting orders around the first of May.

I have almost finished proofreading the initial text for Precedents I. It will then have to be categorized, edited, annotated, sent out for review, and revised for publication. I hope to begin soliciting orders no later than the first of September.

In answer to a question from Trillium Herald, I have no objection to people making personal copies of Precedents III. All I ask is that you copy the manuscript in its entirety, to ensure that no information is lost.

I pray you believe me to be,

Your servant,

/s/

Baldwin of Erebor
(Derek Foster)
P. 0. Box 11792
Costa Mesa, CA 92627

















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