| Alexander Nisbet |
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| CATEGORIES ABOUT ALEXANDER NISBET | |
| 1657 births | |
| nisbet, alexander | |
| 1725 deaths | |
| heraldists | |
| scottish genealogists | |
| SHOPPER'S DELIGHT | |
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Alexander Nisbet (1657-1725) remains the most important author on Scottish heraldry, still much-cited, and still in-print after nearly 300 years. Scion of the ancient Borders family of Nisbet of Nisbet House , Alexander Nisbet was a grandson of Adam Misbet, an Edinburgh lawyer. He matriculated at Edinburgh University in 1675, then became a private student of heraldry, earning a modest living as a writer in Edinburgh. He died in poverty on 5 December 1725, and was buried in the family vault in Greyfriars Kirk . In 1934 Nisbet's kinsman, Robert Chancellor Nesbitt , arranged for John Buchan to unveil a memorial plaque in Greyfriars Kirk, still visible in the church. Nisbet's importance lies partly in his manuals on Scottish heraldry:
but mainly on his comprehensive survey of the heraldry of Scottish families, ''A system of heraldry, speculative and practical: with the true art of blazon''. This remains much cited, in part because Nisbet took a clear-headed view of heraldic practice, and partly because the book is a record of arms and family papers long since lost. REFERENCES 1 EXTERNAL LINKS |