Gosh-- I really don't believe there is any one book that deals authoritatively with this subject matter, although The Nature of Arms by Gayre of Gayre and Nigg (Oliver & Boyd, 1961, out of print) will give one a good idea of the differing concepts of nobiliary heraldic practices throughout Europe from approximately the 12th century until the middle of the 20th century (and not much has changed since then!).Originally Posted by RB51
Don Pottinger and Sir Iain Moncreiff of that Ilk were co-conspirators on a delightful wee book titled Blood Royal which, although Anglocentric in its point of view, still gives a pretty good insight to the hierarchy of the titled nobility.
Other than that, it comes down to a lifetime of reading arcane (French word for "boring") books and manuscripts dealing with all aspects of "House Law" and "Peerage Law" and "Noble Law", etc., and putting together all these disparate facts with an eye to discovering the commonality of ideas as to what constitutes "nobility" and, more importantly, how one transcends the threshold of nobility.
As Trefor has already said, we are more than happy to answer the odd question, although we may have slightly differing points of view!Which is a good thing, because without considering different perspectives the pursuit of any knowledge simply would not exist.
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