Oldest numismatic book yet (1685)

Hello everybody, it has been a long time since I have been active on CoinTalk. Real-life and its hectic aspects has meant that my coin collecting has subsided somewhat. In fact, I actually had to sell/consign some of my coins, but I guess I am happy to only have a small eclectic set of specimens that talk to me historically and aesthetically.

One collecting area though that is still strong for me is antique books. And I recently acquired one that could pretty much be regarded as a numismatic one (even though the title doesn't imply it). It is pretty much covered with pretty coin drawings on almost every single page! I thought I should share a tiny sample with you.





















As you can see, the coin drawings are idealistic rather than accurate depictions of specific samples, even though they were obviously based on some. And as my Latin are rather rusty, I would appreciate if someone is able to share a general idea of how the author is trying to elaborate on the book's subject based on the coin thematology.

 

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Some more... It is not only coins, there are plenty of drawings of every day life/ military tactics.













It is a really beautiful book. Not particularly expensive either. And I think it definitely demonstrates that people were comfortably aware of and educated on the subject of Roman coins since the 1600's and probably well before.

 

WOW, a primitive tuba????? FANTASTIC!!!

 

Good to see you, Old Man!

What a cool book. Let’s celebrate with the coin types pictured

 

That's really cool, thanks for sharing.

 

Very nice. That's quite the prize. What is the book title?

 

Tremendous!

 

I have one from 1671 and one from 1708, which I already shared in the thread started by @DonnaML in January 2021:

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/some-antiquities-i-havent-previously-posted.374223/page-2

The numismatic information in those old books are probably outdated, but the images are gorgeous

 

What a cool book!



The illustration on the left reminds me a bit of the reverse of the Nero drachm from Antioch that I just posted earlier today in the "latest ancient coin" thread:

 

..kool book OAPOM...beats my Vertots by 55 years..(5th ed. pub.1740, 'Englifh'd by Mr. Ozell")

 

@Only a Poor Old Man, it's So Great to hear Anything from you again! Condolences on the bother of the preceding months. But it's a joy to know that you're still here, and back at it. And the book --along with @ominus1's 'Englished' version-- is fantastic.
If you go back far enough, I used to collect printed matter from the end of the 16th century into the 18th. --In a very small way, running heavily to odd volumes and ephemera, mainly found in local bookshops which, sadly, are no more. But lately I've been getting back into 18th-c. English periodicals of literary significance (Johnson, Defoe). And only over the last couple of weeks, I bought this, a Paris edition of the memoirs of Joinville. I was thinking it belonged in the thread, 'Besides coins, do you have other hobbies?' But this is too good an 'in' to pass up. Yes, it has exactly zero numismatic significance per se, but is of profound moment to a key phase of the historical range of my own coin collecting. It's a sweet little full duodecimo, very much along the lines of @ominus1's terrific example. Here are some of the the dealer's pics. --And I promise, every page doesn't have a library stamp!

 

Very nice - it looks like it is in amazing condition and richly illustrated. I've bookmarked it on archive.org (no substitute for the physical book, but fun to leaf through).

My Octavia is facing the other way

Here's a sample translation (applying some pretty rusty Latin to page 20) - it seems that there are a few elements of the description that we would see differently today - notably Octavia is not Augustus and Dionysus is not Concordia (see RPC 2202 2201) "Dionysus standing left upon cista mystica".

"Reperitur adhuc in Numismatibus M. Antontii Concordia depicta cum duobus serpentibus, qui aram circumdant, supraquam caput Augusti conspicitur, in signum Concordiae Triumviratus, quem fecerant ad constituendam Rempublicam. Et in numismatibus Caesaris Avgusti adhuc videri potest Concordia, una manu cornucopiae tenens , et altera suos fructus offerens Triumviris , qui sunt Lepidus, Antonius , et junior Caesar : eo significans , quod ab unione et concordia quas simul contraxerant, procederet salus generis humani, sicut inscriptio Numismatis fert, sub similibus verbis : SALUS GENERIS HVMANI."

Found amongst the coins/medals of Mark Antony, Concordia depicted with two serpents which surround the altar, above which is seen the head of Augustus, as a sign of the Triumvirate of Concord, which they had made in order to preserve the republic.

And in the coins/medals of Augustus you can also see Concordia,

with one hand holding a cornucopia and the other offering it's fruit to the triumvirs: they are Lepidus, Antony, and the young Caesar, indicating that from the union and concord which they had contracted together, the salvation of the human race would proceed, as the inscription reads using similar words: the Health of the human race.

 

@Sulla80, just from here, it's terrific to hear from you, too, after too long. (...Should I maybe consider evolving to the level of 'favoriting' people on this forum? Because, so far, that hasn't happened.)
Your coin is a Really, Really Cool counterpoint to the illustration in @Only a Poor Old Man's book. And, Yep, I bookmarked your link from Archives.org, aka the Wayback Machine.

...'Gosh, Mr. Peabody, you know everything!'
'That is correct, Sherman.'

 

I like the list of topics in the book that archive.org provides: cults, baths, and baths.

 

Thank you (and LOL on the Mr. Peabody reference), +VGO, nice to cross paths with you again too. I haven't been completely absent of late, but perhaps a bit quieter as March came in like a lion. I haven't found the "Follow" feature in this forum all that useful - searching for a user's posts works well. My latest meandering thoughts, interests, favorite coins and useful reference sites also always easy to find here: Notes on Ancient Coins.

Apparently someone had baths on the mind while registering this book.

 

@Sulla80, thanks for the link to your blog! Tabbed, never mind bookmarked.

 

Interesting book! Thanks for sharing.
My oldest book was published in 1906 and was in the Redlands High School Library before it made its way to a used book shop. My book was written in English. It has a picture like your CAVEA PULLARIA ѐ MARMORE (Sacred Chickens). The handle in my book has a lion and goat (?) head. The story with the chickens is interesting.



An on demand reprint of Aes Grave from the Kircheriano museum was published in 1839.

 

This is awesome, thanks!

 

I am glad everybody enjoyed the book. Thanks to @Sulla80 's link everyone can read the whole thing (or just admire the illustrations if you can't read Latin - thanks again @Sulla80 for the nice snippet translation).

Perhaps this is a good opportunity to also post another (unrelated) curiosity I bought recently:





Lovers of big bronzes will salivate over this one!

I know what it is, I wonder how many of you can recognize it.
(Hint: it is just a replica. The real thing would require me getting rather wet under some Parisian bridge)

 

Reading back this sentence, I realise it sounds a bit.... strange. What I meant is that the original artefact was allegedly disposed off in the river Seine (that's what I read somewhere)