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<p>[QUOTE="FitzNigel, post: 2580719, member: 74712"]Walker, Ralph S. Reading Medieval European Coins. Second Edition.Fairfield, CT: Attic Books, Ltd., 2000.</p><p>ISBN: 0915018551</p><p>Cost: $25-$50</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]560128[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Grade: B+</p><p><br /></p><p>There is probably no other coin book I know packed with so much information than this small 44 page book. This is a great introduction to one of the more complicated matters of medieval numismatics, which is simply reading the inscriptions. Walker's guide is well organized as a reference, and informative. The tables on names and certain abbreviations are useful, but not complete (although that would be impossible).</p><p><br /></p><p>There is much about medieval handwriting that Walker glosses over, stating that it was not used on Coins, but some of the additional abbreviation markers and letter forms used in the middle ages would help explain some of the oddities fund on medieval coins. The reason a guide such as this is needed is due to the evolution of handwriting, which was then copied on coins. Our letter forms look very similar to Roman letter forms, but one should not assume that means letter forms never evolved. For the thousand years we call the Middle Ages, handwriting and letterforms changed. When the renaissance began, scholar began emulating the old Roman letter forms (technically Carolingian for miniscul, Roman for uncial) because this was the classical culture that was the 'rebirth.' It was at this time of recreating Roman letter forms that the printing press was growing in use, and once words were 'typed' rather than written, it was less likely the forms would change (hence why we have Roman letters).</p><p><br /></p><p>For these purposes, the book is useful as an overall guide for reading Medieval Coins. However, anyone desiring to specialize in a particular are would be much better served by a guide for that area.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="FitzNigel, post: 2580719, member: 74712"]Walker, Ralph S. Reading Medieval European Coins. Second Edition.Fairfield, CT: Attic Books, Ltd., 2000. ISBN: 0915018551 Cost: $25-$50 [ATTACH=full]560128[/ATTACH] Grade: B+ There is probably no other coin book I know packed with so much information than this small 44 page book. This is a great introduction to one of the more complicated matters of medieval numismatics, which is simply reading the inscriptions. Walker's guide is well organized as a reference, and informative. The tables on names and certain abbreviations are useful, but not complete (although that would be impossible). There is much about medieval handwriting that Walker glosses over, stating that it was not used on Coins, but some of the additional abbreviation markers and letter forms used in the middle ages would help explain some of the oddities fund on medieval coins. The reason a guide such as this is needed is due to the evolution of handwriting, which was then copied on coins. Our letter forms look very similar to Roman letter forms, but one should not assume that means letter forms never evolved. For the thousand years we call the Middle Ages, handwriting and letterforms changed. When the renaissance began, scholar began emulating the old Roman letter forms (technically Carolingian for miniscul, Roman for uncial) because this was the classical culture that was the 'rebirth.' It was at this time of recreating Roman letter forms that the printing press was growing in use, and once words were 'typed' rather than written, it was less likely the forms would change (hence why we have Roman letters). For these purposes, the book is useful as an overall guide for reading Medieval Coins. However, anyone desiring to specialize in a particular are would be much better served by a guide for that area.[/QUOTE]
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