My numismatic library is second only to ancient coins in my collecting passion. I know many younger collectors prefer the convenience and cost of internet research, versus assembling and storing a research library of their own. That preference is perfectly understandable given the immense strides in digitizing many out-of-copyright numismatic works and auction catalogues. Personally, I prefer the hard copies. My preference is totally subjective, and not meant to disparage anyone's research methods. I simply love the tactile, visual and olfactory (yep - that old book smell!) experience of "curling-up" with an old numismatic book. Researching from PDFs on a computer monitor is too sterile for my taste and also a little hard on the eyes. Recently, I acquired the following additions to my library: 1. Bahrfeldt, Nachträge und Berichtigungen zur Münzkunde der Römischen Republik, vols 1 and 2. Max Bahrfeldt wrote a highly important series of articles, published over 20 years in the Numismatische Zeitschrift, updating and correcting Babelon's Description des Monnaies de la Republique Romaine. Later issued in 3 volume offprint book form, or ocasionally excerpted originals of the articles. In the past month, I was very fortunate to obtain volumes 1 and 2 of this elusive set. Each contains many high quality plates of rare varieties and rare types of Roman Republican coins that were unknown to Babelon. I'm now anxiously searching for volume 3 to complete the 3 volume set. 2. Cohen, Description Generale des Monnaies de la Republique Romaine (1857). This early, seminal "handbook" of Roman Republican coinage set the stage for future work. Most interesting to me are the amazing plates of etchings by Dardel, the 19th Century master, an example of which appears below. These etchings, which were state-of-the-art at the time for numismatic books, are detailed enough to match an actual coin. Cohen used many privately held collections as the basis for this work. Conceivably, it's possible to provenance a coin in these plates. 3. Grueber, Coins of the Roman Republic in the British Museum (1st ed; 1910). This is a beautifully-bound upgrade of my 1970 reprint set. The plates in the 1st edition are considerably sharper than the later reprint, though the reprint's plates are useable. While dating and mint arrangement of BMC is obsolete, Grueber's dense historical notes and the plates remain extremely useful. 3. P&P Santamaria, Signorelli Collection Part I (1951) - Greek Coins and Aes Grave. This scarce catalogue completes my assemblage of all three Signorelli Collection sales. The Part 1 sale is particularly important to me for the aes grave (aes grave are often included in Greek parts of old catalogues). I had given-up finding this scarce catalogue and recently submitted the Part 2 and 3 Roman sales to my bookbinder. I had to contact her to "stop all work" while I competed for this final part of the set. I'll now have her bind all three together. 4. Smyth, William, Descriptive Catalogue of A Cabinet of Roman Family Coins Belonging to His Grace the Duke of Northumberland (1856). This is the book that launched the fortunate string of events described in the thread "New Old Provenance." It's an important book when used in concert with the 1982 Sotheby's auction catalogue of Roman Coins from Alnwick Castle. It was published by the Duke himself in small numbers for private circulation. It contains remarkably detailed coin descriptions that attempt to describe condition as well as type in the absence of any plates. Weights are given in grains for each coin which aid in confirming provenance. Below is a photo of the written inscription "With the Duke of Northumberland's Compliments" presumably by the Duke's private secretary. Please share your recent numismatic library additions!
Excellent additions, @Carausius. I was recently forced to track down a PDF copy of Nachtrage as part of my research of a coin I recently purchased(published by Bahrfeldt but rejected by Crawford). Somehow I simply never realized how important Nachtrage was. Other than that, my only recent additions have been a set of Vecchi 1-10. I already had two of them but the set was pretty cheap on eBay and I couldn't resist upgrading from my water-damaged and well-used of Vecchi 6.
I recently added Sotheby's "Catalogue of Important Greek Roman & English Coins from the Collection of Westminster School, London" sale from May 1976 in which I found 2 of my coins. The auction is of a coin collection that was started with British Museum duplicates in the mid 19th Century for the school of Westminster. It has a partial provenance listing of the coins in the collection which is quite nice. Here are my 2 coins.
That's a catalogue I don't have @Carthago , but should look for. I've a copy of the Eton College sale, also by Sotheby's, in 1976. Interesting that Eton also seeded its cabinet with British Museum duplicates, similarly acquired in the late 19th century. It must have been a common strategy by UK educational institutions at the time, and perhaps the BM priced the duplicates to encourage such institutional purchases.
Vecchi 1-10 are a great series of catalogues for Roman Republican enthusiasts, with the tremendous #3 offering of struck bronzes and the #9 offering of Octavian/Augustus and #6 denarii, plus others. Well worth acquiring.
Just purchased this tonite, before I saw this thread. THANK YOU @Valentinian for alerting me of this book in an earlier thread! I finally found a copy. I am looking forward to reading. I am now up to 30 Quinarii in my collection, I think it is time to start getting serious...
I have recently picked up a few: I also picked up the Sear The History and Coinage of the Roman Imperators 49-27 BC, The Coinage of the Roman Republic by Edward A. Sydenham , and the two Harlan books on moneyers.
@Carausius Great book additions. It is nice to sit and read or look at pictures. I have picked up a few this year. Most cover cast bronze / pre-money: BABELON E. – Description historique ... République Romaine; originale di Parigi-Londra 1885-1886; reprint 1983. pp. 562 (vol. I), pp. 669 (vol. II) Numismatic Review Vol 1, #3 - due to article - New Light on the Earliest Currency of Rome (cast bronze) Kisch, Bruno - Scales and Weights: A Historical Outline (History of Science & Medicine I) - This one was written to my level, is interesting, informative and has plenty of pictures. Balmuth, Miriam S. - Hacksilber to Coinage: New Insights into the Monetary History of the Near East and Greece (Numismatic Studies,) R. A. G. Carson and Colin M. Kraay, Editors - Scripta Nummaria Romana: Essays Presented to Humphrey Sutherland Bokern, Annabel - Embodying Value? The Transformation of Objects in and from the Ancient World (BAR International Series) (German and English Edition) - This series of papers discusses whether some cast bronze pieces were pre-money or votive offerings. Apicius - Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome (this book went to my sister who likes to cook)
A little time back I captured this one from @Valentinian : Yeah, it is a MASSIVE tome... really helps with my Carthage disks...
And... This one helps with my ETRURIA FLAT-BACKS: Etruria Populonia AR 1 As 0.60g 10.0mm after 211 BCE Male Head L - Plain Rev Vecchi 3 68-70 HN Italy 181 EXTREMELY RARE
A recently published book, but very useful for researching coins of the Crusades. Coins of the Crusader States 1098-1291. 2nd edition. Berman Publications, 2004.
Just picked up a copy of Essays Russo today when I saw that Charles Davis had listed a new copy for $80. He only listed the one but his store might be worth paying attention to and possibly saving a few bucks if you're looking for a copy. It's taken me far too long to add this volume to the library so I can't wait for it to get in. If it gets anywhere near as much use as Essays Hersh it will be a more than worthwhile investment.
Well bought, @red_spork . Of course, you'll find Andrew McCabe's paper on anonymous struck bronzes extremely useful, and there are lots of other interesting RR papers in Essays Russo. I think I paid twice that amount for my copy!
Yeah McCabe's paper really is excellent. Luckily he uploaded it to Academia.edu right around the time I started collecting RR bronzes so I've had a digital copy for a while but I am looking forward to having a printed one that I can work with. The two papers I'm really looking forward to are Witschonke's paper on unpublished coins and Schaefer's hoard report, though they all sound worthwhile.
i don't believe one could go wrong collecting these type books. they have antique/vintage value plus offer valuable information on the coins themselves..
If you're squeamish, turn your head. I've been engaged in a binding program for my numismatic library for several years now. Part of that program includes condensing modern catalogue runs into useable, smaller volumes. Basically, I fillet the catalogues and assemble the parts I want to keep into volumes. In the case of Vecchi 1-10, I kept all of sale 3 and 9 and the Roman Republican parts of the rest. Below is the dedicated volume I recently got back from my book binder. This saves about 8 inches of shelf space. That adds up over the course of several modern catalogue runs. I only do this for modern (cheap), pre-internet sales.
I don't have many Sasanian coins, but you can never have too many reference works. From Charles Davis I recently bought the two-volume series Sasanian Coins: A Sylloge of the Sasanian Coins in the National Museum of Iran. Volume 1 has 1476 coins on 102 plates, and Volume 2 continues the numbering to coin 4424 and plate 352. Every coin has its own lengthy detailed description, even if it is very much like the previous coin. For someone like me who is not advanced in this area, it can be hard to tell the difference between neighboring entries, if there is one. It is good to have all that info for advanced collectors who can understand it. For me, there are very many pictures and that makes it worthwhile.