Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 2, Number 30: July 25, 1999:
an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society.
SUBSCRIBER UPDATES
This week's new subscribers are Ronald S. Thompson and
Bill Fivaz. Welcome aboard! We've had to drop one
subscriber whose email keeps bouncing back. This brings
our current subscriber count to 181.
NBS E-MAIL SURVEY #1
All subscribers to The E-Sylum will receive an additional
mailing this week, containing our first e-mail opinion
survey. The purpose of this survey is to gather some
information in advance of our Society's annual meeting at
the ANA Convention in Chicago next month. If you
have a few moments, please let your voice be heard.
HIGH COST OF ANA EXHIBITING
President Michael J. Sullivan writes: "In response to the
comments about displays for ANA - The real issue is the
ANA is too restrictive relative to display placement. Last
year's ANA in Portland required me to leave for the
convention about 2 days earlier than required to place my
display at a personal cost of about $300. This is a lot of
"cost" to incur for the restrictions. If the ANA becomes
more progressive and expands the time slot options, more
displays will be placed.
I have plenty of display oriented material in my library and
am prepared to do this. I opted out of displaying in Chicago
related only to options of placement/removal, and cost."
As a past exhibitor myself, I have to agree with Michael's
point. Although the main reason for my not displaying this
year was my plan to bring my family along, I run into the
same problem each year - it's an expensive proposition to
attend an extra day or two, especially when the use of
precious vacation days is taken into account. My hat is off
to the dedicated souls who devote the bulk of the week to
attending the convention.
BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS
Larry Mitchell writes: "Numislit collectors seem to fall into
two camps: (1) those who collect numislit for its INFORMATIONal
value (in my experience, the great majority of NBS members),
for whom the softcover edition is adequate;
(2) those who collect numislit for its value as an exemplar of the
book arts (typography, paper, illustrations, binding, etc.), who
much prefer the full-leather edition to the softcover edition.
For those in group 1 (just the information, ma'am!), I strongly
recommend Anne Fadiman's gorgeous little book of essays,
EX LIBRIS, published last year. For those in group 2 ("I love
the smell of full leather in the morning!"), shelf space must
absolutely be made available for Nicholas Basbanes' 1995
book, A GENTLE MADNESS: BIBLIOPHILES,
BIBLIOMANES AND THE ETERNAL PASSION FOR
BOOKS. Two truly wonderful books by two truly wonderful
authors, both of whom "have your number!"
As one who's read the Basbanes book, I heartily concur with
with Larry's recommendation. But I would add a third category
of numismatic bibliophile: those who collect literature as
tangible connections to our hobby's history. One of my recent
acquisitions is M. L. Beistle's personal copy of the Haseltine
Type Table Catalog, which Beistle used as the basis for his
landmark work on United States Half Dollars. Shopworn as it
is, I wouldn't trade it for three copies of the deluxe
leatherbound version of Beistle's book.
BITS VS ATOMS
Q. David Bowers gave NBS and The E-Sylum some publicity
in his latest COIN WORLD column, "The Printed Word".
This weeks' headline: Internet Expanding, But Publications
Permanent". Despite the growth of numismatic content on
the internet, Dave writes, "I think I'll always enjoy the printed
word. There is something nice about holding a nice book or
catalog in your hands and skimming through it." So, is Dave
a Type 1, 2, or 3 bibliophile? "All of the Above", no doubt.
PATTERN WEB SITE UPDATED
Speaking of internet content, Saul Teicheman writes: "Just
letting everyone know that the pattern concordance files -
one for patterns and the other for splashers is now available
at the US Patterns website http://st9.yahoo.com/uspatterns/.
For those who have never seen the website, welcome. For
those who have been an integral part of its formation, thanks
for the help provided. Please note that the pattern file contains
almost 2300 lines and may take substantial time to open on
your web browser. Hopefully in the future, the information can
be loaded into a database from which people will be able to
query by categories such as year or denomination as well as
link to photographs or articles on this website and other related
websites."
NUMISMATIC DIRECTORY FOR 1884
"The Numismatic Directory for 1884", published by R. W.
Mercer of Cincinnati, OH, contains the following errata
sheet: "Letter E's on page 33 was left out on account of
the confusion of the great flood, which reached 71 feet, 3/4
inch, on February 14th at 1 p.m. 1884, at Cincinnati, O.
Also the cause of delay in publication of the Directory to
this day, March 4th." Bonus survey question: "What drives
more fear into the heart of a bibliophile: fire or flood?"
FEATURED WEB SITE
This week's featured web site is Andrew Pollack's
Numismalink, a nice collection of links to high-quality
numismatic web sites:
http://www.numismalink.com/
Wayne Homren
Numismatic Bibliomania Society
The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a
non-profit organization promoting numismatic
literature. For more information please see
our web site at http://www.coinbooks.org/
There is a membership application available on
the web site. To join, print the application and
return it with your check to the address printed
on the application. For those without web access,
contact Dave Hirt, NBS Secretary-Treasurer,
5911 Quinn Orchard Road, Frederick, MD 21701
(To be removed from this mailing list
write to me at whomren@coinlibrary.com)
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