I have written a review of a forthcoming book, Encyclopedia of Roman Coins II (ERIC II) by Rasiel Suarez which is currently in pre-order status but hope to be available when the slow boat from China docks in October (?). The book is 1455 pages and catalogs what the author knew to exist from Caesar Augustus to the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453. The review is no lightweight either at a bit over 4500 words. The review has been posted on FORVM Ancient Coins Forum which is dedicated to ancient/medieval coins only but I believe it might be of interest to some more general collectors who frequent Coin Talk but not Forvm. http://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=65466.0 I need to add that I have no monetary, authorship or other interest in the book beyond my support for the hobby of collecting ancient coins. As the author put it, I seem to be "the only guy out there that writes ancient coin book reviews". For that matter, I will not even tell you here whether I recommend the book or not. The answer is not as simple as 'Yes' or 'No'. If you want my opinions, feel free to read the review. It was written based on the unbound galley proof loaned to me by the author. That means I can not comment on some features like binding quality but I understand that the pages are as will be on the final version. If you have questions or comments on the review, I will be happy to discuss it here (or on Forvm). Persons wanting to keep track on progress of the binding and shipping can look at the ERIC Facebook pages where there are some nice pictures of the printing and binding processes. http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Encyclopedia-of-Roman-Imperial-Coins/362124848605
I was too Mat but I ordered it last month. I believe we all appreciate your review Doug, I was disappointed like you with a few of the choices he made. Especially the anonymous bronzes, one of the most popular byzantine series. I would have thought he could have done a great 10 page summary of those to help lots of people to put together a set of this very interesting and historical series. I know Ras photographs well so I was hoping for multiple photos of the varieties of Class I for example. I have about 8 varieties and was hoping for a good guide to how many are out there. I am still glad I bought it. Ancient collectors really do need to always remember to support our authors who add so much value to this hobby.
I just wanted to say I got my copy of ERIC II Friday, (number 040). Man what a massive book. He listed 1458 pages, but they are large, heavy paper making the book extremely heavy. This is not a bedtime read. I agree with Doug's review. I think this is an excellent, well thought out volume. I like the quick find aspect of the colored page listing of emperors. The large quantity of color photos on the same pages of the issuing emperor is not something you will find in any other format. For this reason I would suggest this book as an absolutely brilliant start to Roman coin collecting. For Byzantine, it is helpful and a good background, but I would suggest getting Sears Byzantine Coins and their Values as an added reference. The emperors biographies I thought were a "fun read", getting you the gist of them without trying to be scholarly. Hopefully anyone interested in them will not stop with just these. I really appreciated the market comments on the coins, to me this was the best part of the book, giving someone inexperienced with a certain emperor's coins a quick guide to relative scarcity. Yes, there are a few problems. I would have liked this to be a two volume work, just to make it easier to use, (did I mention its weight?). The Byzantine section seems added on, with not as much attention given to these series as the Roman. Doug already mentioned the Anonymous bronzes being given scant attention. This is important since this series are large coins and so common that they likely are the first Byzantine coins anyone ever acquire. With so large a volume I really wished they could have spared at least a few pages on these. Overall, please everyone consider this book. I think many will use it as their first source for Roman Imperials, I know I probably will even though I own RIC, BMC, and others. I cannot think of a better Christmas gift to either ask for, buy for a budding ancient collector, or just to buy yourself and help support numismatic scholarship. Chris
