Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 2, Number 43: October 25, 1999:
an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society.
SUBSCRIBER UPDATES
Just one new subscriber this week - Don Groves. Welcome
aboard! This brings our subscriber count to 246.
BOOK DEALS AT THE P.A.N. SHOW
This issue of The E-Sylum is a day late due to this weekend's
coin show sponsored by the Pennsylvania Association of
Numismatists, where yours truly got away from the keyboard
Sunday to spend most of the day packing and hauling exhibit
cases, with the much-appreciated help of subscribers Larry
Dziubek and Richard Crosby.
The day started out with a couple of book deals. Thomas
Raymond Hipschen, the B.E.P. portrait engraver, purchased
from me a duplicate copy of Griffith's "The Story of American
Bank Note Company", paying in part with a new $50 bill, which
I promptly asked him to autograph. Meanwhile, jsg boggs
purchased a copy of Zvi Stahl's "Jewish Ghettos' and
Concentration Camps' Money" from John Burns in exchange
for a Boggs bill.
FALL 1999 ASYLUM ON ITS WAY
Our editor Marilyn Reback reports that the latest issue of
our print journal, The Asylum, should soon be appearing in
the mailboxes of NBS members. Contents include:
* "The Numismatist: The First Six Volumes -
Where are They Now" by David J. Sklow
* "Daniel Groux's "Descriptive Catalogue" for the
Maryland Historical Society and the Coins of
Joel Barlow", by Joel J. Orosz.
* "Ad Hominem Ad Nauseam: The "Great Debate"
between Michael Hodder & Theodore Buttrey",
by Joel J. Orosz.
In addition to these feature articles, there are Letters
to the Editor relating to early dealer price lists and
stationary, and a copy of the rare 1863 pamphlet
"Something About Coins", discovered by David Hirt.
KENNETH LOWE LIBRARY SALE
The Money Tree will hold their 32nd numismatic literature
sale on Saturday, November 27, 1999, at the Michigan
State Numismatic Society convention in Dearborn, MI.
The sale features the numismatic library of the late Ken
Lowe, partner and cataloguer of The Money Tree, who
passed away suddenly on February 23, 1998.
The public sale portion consists of 300 lots of mostly U.S.
material, including several rare plated Elder and Chapman
catalogs, standard works on early copper (Clapp-Newcomb,
Gilbert, etc.), Newlin on Half Dimes, and Crosby's Early Coins
of America. An additional 441 Mail Bid lots close December
4th. For more information, contact David Sklow at
sdsklow@aol.com
MORE ON ADVERTISING IN BOOKS
Allan Davisson writes: "Ads can be useful adjuncts to
references both currently and historically. I think that some
editorial control is appropriate over the ads in a book that
will be around for decades as well as carrying some of the
gravitas of the reference itself. If the publisher makes some
decisions about whom to include and how the ads should
look generally, it can both help defray expenses and provide
useful information."
George Fuld adds: "I have no problem with book advertising,
as long as all are at the back. Not like The Numismatist,
where ads now wreck the continuity of the issue."
MATTHEW STICKNEY PICTURE FOUND
In response to Pete Smith's quest for a picture of collector
Matthew Stickney, George Kolbe writes:
"A good engraving of Stickney appeared in:
1) Many hardbound copies of his 1907 Chapman sale
catalogue (both plated and non);
2) It appears to have been sent out with at least some
1907 issues of "The Numismatist" - I have seen several
engravings bound in volumes of that year with the margins
heavily trimmed (small than issue size) and also a number
like that loose;
3) A drawing by Alan Dietz in Vol. 1 of Adams "United States
Numismatic Literature," derived from the above engraving.
The Essex Institute in Salem, Mass., which held Stickney's
numismatic library (much of which was sold in our June 1981
sale), may well have other portraits."
Joel Orosz concurred and added: "I have not seen any other
images of Stickney, but it is possible that others exist."
THE EVOLUTION OF THE BOOKSHELF
After listening to a fascinating interview on National Public
Radio, I just had to seek out a copy of a newly published
book titled "The Book on the Bookshelf". Specifically, this
is a book ABOUT bookshelves - something we bibliophiles
take for granted today. But it wasn't always so, and this
book details the long and interesting evolution of how this
everyday item came to have the form it holds today. The
author is Henry Petroski, and here's what the book's jacket
notes have to say:
"He has been called "the poet laureate of technology". Now
Henry Petroski turns to the subject of books and bookshelves,
and wonders whether it was inevitable that books would come
to be arranged vertically as they are today on horizontal shelves.
As we learn how the ancient scroll became the codex became the
volume we are used to, we explore the ways in which the housing
of books evolved. Petroski takes us into the pre-Gutenberg
world, where books were so scarce they were chained to lecterns
for security. He explains how the printing press not only changed
the way books were made and shelved, but also increased their
availability and transformed book readers into book owners and
collectors. He shows us that for a time books were shelved with
their spines in, and it was not until after the arrival of the modern
bookcase that the spines faced out."
"In delightful digressions, Petroski lets Seneca have his say on
"the evils of book collecting"; examines the famed collection of
Samuel Pepys (only three thousand titles: old discarded to make
room for new); and discusses bookselling, book buying, and book
collecting through the centuries."
FEATURED WEB SITE
This week's featured web site is Monticello, Thomas
Jefferson's home in Virginia. Specifically, two short pages
describing his interest in coinage and the history of the
Jefferson Indian Peace Medal.
http://www.monticello.org/Matters/interests/coinage.html
http://www.monticello.org/Matters/interests/peace_medal.html
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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