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Alexi said:other sources for an historical
"The New Fowler's Modern English Usage" -Oxford University Press (a US publisher)
"Now, try "the history" and "the historical." A little-known fact about English is that whether a noun begins with a consonant or vowel affects not only the selection of "a" and "an," but also the pronunciation of "the": before a consonant this article is pronounced [thuh] but before a vowel it is pronounced [thee]. If you want to say [thee] before "historical," or if this pronunciation sounds right to you, you are not pronouncing the initial [h] in that word.
Although the sound [h] is disappearing from many dialects of English, it is not dropping out in every word; it is dropping only from those syllables that are unaccented, hence pronounced more lightly. This means that "history" retains its [h] because the syllable it introduces is accented. The accent falls on the second syllable of "historical," so the word AS PRONOUNCED, not as written, begins with a vowel in many dialects. This means that "the" should be pronounced [thee] and "an" is the appropriate indefinite article in those dialects but only those dialects. "A historical" remains preferable in formal English."
from - http://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/drgw007.html
from doing random google searches it looks like a historic vs. an historic is a 2 to 1 ratio of use.
also we do say "erbs" here in the north east, a "herb" is an idiot
The summary is the last sentence "A historical" remains preferable in formal English." It remains that a is proper instead of an. In both "historical" and history cases I pronounce the the Thuh. Now say that fast three times.
Ah, at least you pronounce herb correctly.