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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Conder101, post: 4854903, member: 66&quot;]The first edition MegaRedbook is probably the best single volume but if you really want to go in depth</p><p><br /></p><p>Half cents</p><p>&nbsp;<i>Half Cent Die States/1793-1857</i> by Manley is very good possibly the best, but practically unobtainable</p><p>Next best and easily obtainable is Walter Breens Encyclopedia of United States half cents 1793 - 1857.&nbsp; Truly a quality work and readily available for around $65.</p><p>Outdated and without as much information would be American Half Cents the Little Half Sisters by Roger Cohen&nbsp; This was the book that gave us the Cohen numbers the half cents are collected by.&nbsp; Available in the $50 to $90 range, but I would recommend Breen over this.</p><p><br /></p><p>Early date large cents (1793 - 1814)</p><p><br /></p><p>Penny Whimsy by William Sheldon.&nbsp; An excellent book, well worth reading&nbsp; There have been several editions the first in 1958 and the last in 1990.&nbsp; The problem here is getting the right edition.&nbsp; My personal preference is either the 1958 or one of the 1965 printings, but the 1990 contains all the new varieties discovered between 1958 and 1990.&nbsp; BUT if you go for the 1990 you want the second printing, not the first.&nbsp; The plates in the first printing are HORRIBLE&nbsp; Not much better than black circles.&nbsp; The ones in the second printing are better, but not great.&nbsp; Readily available in the $45 to $60 range.</p><p><br /></p><p>Walter Breens Encyclopedia of Early United States Large Cents 1793 - 1814.&nbsp; An excellent book, tremendous amount of historical background information, large plates (whose photography could have been better).&nbsp; One serious drawback the plates for four of the varieties are wrong.&nbsp; They are duplicates of the plates for other varieties.&nbsp; Available for $125.</p><p><br /></p><p>US Large Cents 1793 - 1814 by William Noyes&nbsp; I can&#039;t say much about this as I don&#039;t have a copy, but it is the companion volume for his middle date book.&nbsp; And it IS a companion volume, in general you can&#039;t buy this separately and the two volume set is usually around $300.&nbsp; Only available from Charlie Davis and they may not be available anymore, they aren&#039;t listed on his inventory.</p><p><br /></p><p>Middle dates 1816 - 1839</p><p><br /></p><p>US Large Cents 1816 - 1839 by William Noyes.&nbsp; Good book, large plates (which I think could be better) pretty good identification of the varieties.&nbsp; Not readily available but can sometimes be found by itself, around $150.</p><p><br /></p><p>The Cent Book by John Wright who is a member here.&nbsp; In my opinion this is the definitive book on the middle dates. Large plates well photographed, good descriptions and interesting historical information at the beginning of each year just makes the book a good read as well.&nbsp; Very readily available, from the author, and I believe he will even sign them for you if you like.&nbsp; $125.&nbsp; I hesitate to say this because it could take sales away from him, but it is also available on the Newman Numismatic Portal.</p><p><br /></p><p>And for completeness sake United States Copper Cents by Howard R Newcomb, the gentleman we can thank for the Newcomb numbers that the middle and late dates are collected by.&nbsp; Originally published in 1944 there have been several reprints of this book done but they all reproduce the printing of the original which was printed in Newcomb&#039;s own hand writing.&nbsp; It is really quite unusual.&nbsp; Because of the reprints it is readily available in the $30 to $50 range.&nbsp; But other than as a curiosity I don&#039;t recommend it.&nbsp; Unless you just like Numismatic literature.</p><p><br /></p><p>Late Dates 1840 - 1857</p><p><br /></p><p>While the Newcomb book covers these as well&nbsp; the only real choice here is U. S. Cents 1840 - 1857 by John Grellman.&nbsp; Attributing these are NOT easy.&nbsp; This book has no plates because the tiny details needed to identify the different dies just do not reproduce well enough in photos&nbsp; so instead they are drawn in on enlarged representations of the obv and reverse.&nbsp; This book has gone through three editions and is currently sold out and basically is not available. But John has recently said that the fourth edition will be ready &quot;soon&quot;.&nbsp; Only available from the author, the third edition was $100, don&#039;t know what the fourth will be.</p><p><br /></p><p>So a full set of the 4 standard references will set you back about $425[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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