Featured Fitz's Medieval Book Review

Just so potential buyers know, this book is well-described by its title. It has numerous maps of trade routes, however it has no photographs at all. It is not a book where you can look at an image and think "I have, or would like, a coin like that. I'll read about it." There are no coin images.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

I am going to keep my 12 Caesars collection, but I have really enjoyed dabbling in mediaeval coins and can see myself getting more. So far my mediaeval coins have fit the theme of either historical figures in general or more specifically, historical figures dramatized by William Shakespeare. I could see myself building an English rulers set from William I to Charles II. I think it would be fun.
I have the following medieval coins:

British

Cnut

Edward I

Elizabeth I

Edward III

Edward IV

Henry V

Edward the black prince of Wales


French

Richard I

Charles VI

Charles VII

Phillipe II Auguste

Louis IX

Eleanor of Acquitaine



For my historical figures in Shakespeare I am looking for the following :

Lepidus*

Cassius*

Henry VIII*

Henry IV*

Henry VI*

Henry VII*

Richard II*

Richard III*

King John*

Cleopatra*

 

Coins in Shakespeare
J. Eric Engstrom
Dartmouth College Museum
1964
67 pp

As some of you know I have been assembling a collection that includes "Historical figures as dramatized by Shakespeare". Someone made a suggestion that I might find this book interesting as it combines 2 my my interests: the plays of Shakespeare and coins.

The book is short but does in face contain some interesting and entertaining information. It is organized into several sections including : Coins contemporary with Shakespeare's settings, Coins in Shakespeare, Allusions to coin minting and money of account in Shakespeare, and A guide to numismatic passages in Shakespeare.

In the first main section the author shows coins that are contemporary with the times depicted by several plays. For example, for Timon of Athens the author shows an Athenian Tetrarachm, and for Julius Caesar a lifetime denarius is depicted. The author provides pictures and descriptions of coins for several other Shakepearian plays with an obvious nod to the history plays. I found this section very interesting as it closely follows my goals in collecting the coins of historical figures dramatized by Shakespeare.

The second section is very entertaining indeed. At least I found it so, but then I have loved the works and words of Shakespeare for decades. In this section, the author organizes the names of the coins alphabetically. For each coin the name is provided with a photo and this is followed by several quotations from plays where the coin is mentioned. For instance, for Angel (a gold denomination) the author uses several lines including "The humor rises. It is good. Humor me the angels." (Merry Wives of Windsor. After this the author proves a few sentences on the meaning behind the passages and how these are connected to the coins themselves. In some cases the author explains the puns Shakespeare used that included coins and also points out when the meanings are ambiguous. Tis section was my favourite. I loved revisiting these lines from Shakespeare, some of which I had not read in many years. It was a great deal of fun to indulge both my love of coins and Shakespeare at the same time.

Allusions to coin minting and money of account in Shakespeare provides references to coin related words that appear in the plays. For example, the author gives examples of words such as coin, coinage, coined, coining, counter, counterfeit etc. This is a useful section but for me was not as fun as reading the quotations.The final section is A guide to numismatic passages in Shakespeare. In this section arranges the plays in order of composition. For each play a list of the denominations that appear in the play are given along with the act scene and line numbers. The author states that these references are by no means complete. I have just begun to explore this section and cannot wait to open my complete works of Shakespeare and track down these references to coins.

In short, this is a very entertaining and educational book for me. It is short and it is one of only a few books on coins that I wished was not quite as short as it is. It is definitely a niche book. It is very good on a very narrow topic and so may not be useful as a general book on coins. However, it suits my purposes perfectly. If you have an interest in both Shakespeare and the coins associated with his plays it is definitely worth the investment.

If I had to give a grade I would give it an 'A' as it does provide some interesting insight into coins and Shakespeare. I found the book entertaining and far too short. I may in fact try to collect some of the coins mentioned in this book as they will be a nice corollary to my historical figures as dramatized by Shakespeare collection.

I almost forgot mention that the author is not only an author but at some time was a coin collector as well. In fact I have a coin from his collection, it is a denarius of Vespasian.

 

Great book review @Orfew it sounds like a real gem. I'll have to add it to my library at some point in the near future.

 

WOW! Now I would enjoy seeing your list of coins captured vs. this book's listing.

 

d’Andrea, Alberto and Vincenzo Contreras. The Normans’ coins of the Kingdom of Sicily. Medieval Italian Coins. Third Edition. Acquaviva Picena: Edizioni D’Andrea, 2016.
ISBN: 978-8898330034
Cost: €35



Grade: B

The Normans’ Coins of the Kingdom of Sicily is a good catalogue of the various coins minted by the Normans in Italy. While giving a basic run-down of the complicated history of the Normans in Italy, it also records their monetary reforms and attempts to (unsuccessfully) unify the various systems in use between Sicily and the mainland. While this information is useful, the reader is sometimes left wondering where the information comes from since citations are scant. Citations are given at times, and include whole paragraphs reprinted from other works describing a controversial matter, but this is not consistent throughout. The book is in both English and Italian, and it is clear that Italian was the primary language used in compiling it, as some of the English translations are questionable (aside from the title itself, I enjoyed a little laugh each time an inscription came up as “Jesus Christ Winner” instead of “Jesus Christ the Victorious”).

As for the catalogue, it is certainly comprehensive, but not entirely complete. The inclusion of the Arabic inscriptions on many of the coins, rather than just the English translation, is nice, but the writing on the coins is in Kufic, not Nashk as it is presented in the book. This makes it more difficult for those of us without a background in Arabic to match up the inscriptions with our coins. There is occasionally a questionable placement, such as nos. 14 and 15 which the author believes should be attributed to Roger II minted in Bari (with no explanation as to why), but is listed under Anfusus of Capua because of historical precedence. The catalogue also does not mark many die varieties, which I was only able to tell because my trifollaro of Roger I is different than the three included.

Despite some faults, this is probably the best affordable catalogue of Norman Coins in Italy. It is fully in color (unlike MEC 14), with a good layout, and is relatively new (The second edition of Lucia Travaini's La monetazione nell'Italia Normanna may be newer, but I have yet to have a chance to look at this). It also includes a supplemental insert on the estimated market values of the coins, which is useful now, but I do not know how frequently and comprehensively this will be updated. If you have an interest in the Norman coins and of Italy, this will be an easy, quick, and affordable reference to own.

 

Thanks for the great review @FitzNigel I've often thought of buying MEC 14 for the Norman coins, so I'm quite pleased to learn that there is an affordable alternative. I look forward to pick up a copy of my own.

 

I prefer the Stevex6 translation: "JC winna' winna' chicken dinna'!!"

 

I would say MEC14 has more reliable scholarship (or more clear research and citation), but you just want a simple catalogue of coins, this one will do well.

 

There was indeed a write up in Esylum a few years back. I remember adding my two cents worth in that it saved me a lot of money as I was about to purchase a very nice Spanish 2 reales. They showed a fake, my fake was from the same die.
It was indeed worth the price in that the coin would have cost me double the book
price. One never knows.

Cheers

 

If you don't mind me asking FitzNigel, where did you pick up a copy of this book? I have been looking for it since you posted your review, and outside of one source in Italy with prohibitively high shipping costs i have not been able to find it. I would like to learn more about Norman coins, but find MEC 14 a little to expensive.

 

These book reviews have been great for me. I have already picked up 4 of the books reviewed plus a few that have not. I feel guilty for not doing reviews on some of the books that I have accumulated but I'm way behind on my reading. I'm reading a great book on the American Revolution but this is not the right place to review it. Besides, I'm just a 3rd through it. I don't get nearly as much time as I would like just sitting in a quite place with a good book.

 

I bought mine from Italian eBay... otherwise, I’m not sure

 

Another option to consider is the ANA library - i borrowed MEC14 from them a while ago and just had to pay shipping (I didnt read it cover to cover, hence no review, but I intend to invest in an actual copy soon)

 

Dolley, Frank. Anglo Saxon Pennies. The British Museum, London 1964.
Cost: aprox $10 used
Pages: 32


Grade: B

This little booklet, at 32 pages and 16 plates it is hard to call it a book, was a impulse purchase late one night, but one that turned out to be a good one. The booklet covers Anglo-Saxon pennies from their emergence in Kent in the 8th century until the Norman invasion in 1066. After a brief introduction the booklet spends a few pages covering the coins in the British Museum as well as the importance of Anglo Saxon pennies. The rest of the text covers three distinct eras of coinage. The first era covers coins from the earliest pennies through the reign of Alfred the Great. The next era that is covered spans the reigns of Alfred's successors through Eadgar the Peaceful. Finally, the booklet covers the last century of Anglo-Saxon pennies, including those of the Norse kings such as Canute.

The focus of the text of the booklet is on the coins themselves, which are illustrated in 16 black and white plates with 3 coins per plate. The text covers the change in rulers in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms as well as the development of legends, portraits, and even mint locations. There is also a color frontispiece with three gold pennies. With such limited space, and thousands of types of pennies to chose from, the author focuses on the rarer and more historically significant pennies as apposed to the more common types. Thus a penny minted by Alfred to commemorate the capture of London or one minted by Eadmund for the reconquest of Derby are shown instead of a more 'common' type for those kings.
Despite the focus on many rare or unique coins, and the limited number of coins that were illustrated, the booklet was an enjoyable, if brief, read. It did a decent job of introducing the development and changes in Anglo-Saxon pennies over roughly 300 years and putting them in their historical context. My major complaint is that the text was dry. So much more historical information could have been added to make a more compelling read. Another issue is that more coins could have been illustrated, especially for the later rulers. Those criticisms are probably unfair though. More historical information and more illustrated coins would have transformed this small booklet into a major work of numismatics, beyond its purpose as an easily accessible introduction to Anglo-Saxon pennies.

 

Esylum is an excellent portal to numismatic lit and discussions. Been a member for around five years or so. Comes out every Sunday.

 

Thanks @TheRed ! I’m assuming that was meant to accompany an exhibit at the museum?

@Black Friar - I have since signed up with Esylum, and was reading the latest e-mail last night. I noticed they linked to a page here on cointalk with people showing off their numismatic libraries (but the post was started in 2013... I didn’t read through it all to see the latest postings). I find this thread more useful, though, as people are giving reviews for individual books. Frankly, I’d like to see something similar happen with Ancient books... Maybe I’ll start one when I find more time to do some reading outside of work...

 

At a time when Grierson published Byzantine Coins in 1962 it was and still is a valued reference as David Sear's book Byzantine Coins and their Values was still the only game in town for the most part; it wasn't updated till 1987 and first published in 1974. When I purchased it used many years ago it certainly opened many doors as it went into the evolution of Byzantine coins over the centuries.
The only other reference available was the Dunbarton Oaks. Most of the images used in Byzantine Coins were from DOC.

With this in mind, Grierson's The Medieval Coins of Europe still is an excellent primmer. One has to remember, there was no internet back then as robust as what we now enjoy. There is so much info and discussion today that wasn't available in the late 70's and 80's.
We are really fortunate to have so much research available.

We must remember the context within which they were written. I was fortunate enough to finally afford to by the nine volumes of the DOC. Today, even used they are in the thousand dollar range or more.

Many thanks to Fitz Nigel for these reviews, it took time and are well done. On a very personal note, I purchased Torongo's book and was rewarded right off the bat. Among others, he highlighted a modern fake Spanish two reales. Because of that, I saved $65 by not buying one of them offered to me. Talk about serendipity, the book certainly saved me some money.

 

I don't know @FitzNigel but the book makes no mention of an exhibit. There are several other small booklets on coins that Michael Dolley wrote in the 1960s, including one on Norman English coins that I have yet to review. It may very well be that these are intended to be a series of introductory booklets on English numismatic history.