The Army of the Covenant 1643-1647

Stuart Reid's latest offering via Partizan Press is a regimental history of the Covenanting Armies.

This hardback is beautifully presented, but appears to have been poorly proof read. There are a number of typos, which is beginning to be a little too familiar with books from the Partizan stable. For £35, I do expect a level of publishing professionalism that appears to be lacking here.

Just because this is the output from a small, niche, publishing house, doesn't mean their customers deserve anything less than a polished, finished product. Small print runs inevitably push cover prices up, but that is no excuse for failing to get the basics right.

Which takes away the shine from Stuart's work. 

Clearly the subject will inevitably be measured against Professor Furgol's out of print Regimental History of the Covenanting Armies. 

Furgol's work includes the Bishops' Wars, whereas this volume does not. Reid's work touches upon the Scottish New Model Army of 1647, which Furgol's does not.

Apart from that, there isn't that much difference between the two books. Inevitable I imagine when both authors researched their work from the same archives. So far I haven't found anything startlingly 'new' in Reid's book.

Regiments are listed with a history, lists of known officers, and any specific references (issue of weapons, men going before court etc).

The obvious difference between the two volumes is format. This volume is roughly A4 size, with a number of quality full colour illustrations - many of which have already appeared in some of Stuart's other volumes. Furgol's is roughly A5 with no illustrations. Not forgetting, of course, that the latter is out of print (a revised edition is on the cards, apparently).

Both excellent volumes, written by diligent researchers. However, I can not recommend one over the other, I'm afraid. If you already have Furgol's book you probably don't need to buy this one; if you own Reid's, then you aren't going to be in a rush to get hold of Furgol's. You should certainly own one (if you are interested in the Armies of the Covenant), but not necessarily both.

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