Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 3, Number 38, September 17, 2000: an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society. Copyright (c) 2000, The Numismatic Bibliomania Society. SUBSCRIBER UPDATES We have three new subscribers this week: George Dunn of Canada, Ken Hill, courtesy of NBS Vice President Tom Sheehan, and Reid Goldsborough, who writes: "I've been reading back issues at your Web site and am impressed." Welcome aboard! This brings our subscriber count to 339. BACK E-SYLUM ISSUES Nolan Mims writes: "I enjoyed reading the flashback to the first E-Sylum in last weeks issue. Is it possible to obtain a disc with the back issues of the E-Sylum? I joined in March of 2000 and wish I had known about it sooner. It would be cool to read all the issues if they are available." As Mr. Goldsborough discovered, all back issues of The E-Sylum are archived on the NBS web site. Go to http://www.coinbooks.org/, then click on "E-Sylum Archive". There is no index, but there is a search feature - just click on "Search". Enjoy! ASYLUM AUTHORS GUIDELINES One potential Asylum author wrote: "Please tell me approximately how many words you want, and any other guidelines you may have." Our response: "Guidelines?!? We have no stinkin' guidelines... We'll publish as much or as little as you care to write. Electronic format preferred (Mac is best, PC is fine), but we'll take crayon on construction paper if it's about numismatic literature...." Seriously, we're very flexible about submissions for both The E-Sylum and our print journal, The Asylum. Length is a consideration, but we have no hard and fast rules. Your submission may be edited for content or to fit the available space. While long submissions are inappropriate for The E-Sylum, even short Letters to the Editor or "filler" items are acceptable for The Asylum. See the next Asylum for more details. UPCOMING KOLBE LITERATURE AUCTIONS The next numismatic literature auction by George Frederick Kolbe will be a general interest sale scheduled to take place on December 2, 2000. In March 2001 the firm will conduct the final sale of works from the Harry W. Bass, Jr. Numismatic Library, mostly comprising duplicates. For more information, contact George at this address: Numislit@compuserve.com DEVASTATING REVIEWS In response to Tom Fort's request for books which had "published scorn ... poured on them within a year or two after they were printed" brought this response from Dave Lange: "The first example that comes to mind with respect to American numismatics is Robert P. Hilt's "Die Varieties of Early United States Coins." I bought this book as soon as it was published in 1980. Good books were few and far between back then, and I was quite excited at this new development. While the plates were impressive for the time, I was puzzled from the outset by his radical "die group theory of coinage." It seemed downright wacky at the time, and it still does. I don't remember seeing any contemporary reviews of this book, though Walter Breen alternately quoted and contradicted Hilt throughout his 1988 encyclopedia. To my knowledge, no other numismatic researcher/writer has even acknowledged Hilt's work, and it's almost unknown to the current generation of hobbyists. This book was just the first in a planned series, but the succeeding volumes never appeared. I still keep this book on my reference shelf here at NGC, but I simply never use it. Hilt's book remains a curiosity, and I know nothing about the man himself. Perhaps someone can fill in the blanks. Hilt seems to be the A. W. Browning of the 1980s. I can think of half a dozen other recent books on United States coins that were filled with erroneous and sometimes comical conclusions, yet each received favorable reviews in the numismatic press. Either these reviewers are loathe to write negatively about the hobby or they simply don't know enough to recognize nonsense when they see it." Tom Fort adds: "First I would like to thank all of those who have emailed me regarding the posting in the last E-sylum. However, from some of the notes I should have made something more clear. The disasters I am looking for must have published reviews which call them this. There are numerous works out there which I may personally feel to be flawed or awful, but reviewer(s) in journals, magazines or newspapers must say this in print. Contrary to what may be popular opinion, bad reviews are not always easy to write since they can bring lots of trouble upon the reviewer. I will give a case in point. A former university colleague of mine (whom I shall refer to as 'Ed' to protect the innocent), who specialized in the history of Central America, but who had minored in medieval studies, told me the story of one book which he reviewed on the religious history of Honduras. The book was originally a Ph.D. thesis. In the work, the author found numerous references in his research to a St. Dominic and spent a whole chapter discussing who this person might be. Eventually he decided these references were to a very obscure saint who was active as a missionary in Guatemala in the 16th century. Because of the obscurity of this man, the author could not understand why there were so many dedications and references to him. Of course, as Ed noted in his review the author was completely wrong. The St. Dominic was the great monastic reformer and writer of the 13th century - one of the most important figures in the Middle Ages and this Ph.D. had obviously never heard of him. How, Ed asked, could this man's supervisor, history department, external reviewer, Ph.D. committee, and the publisher's editor(s) approve this work? The editor of the journal where the review was to appear wrote Ed and asked was he sure that he wanted the review to run. Ed thought about it and realized that this lengthy bad review was bound to offend a lot of people and that they, and their friends, would probably be gunning for him when his next book came out. Thus, he changed his lengthy passage about the St. Dominic error to a quick sentence. The truth behind this story can easily be seen in the acrimony over the Andrews work on Henry I's coinage. Most of his friends broke with the Royal Numismatic Society and formed the British Numismatic Society, made Andrews the editor of the British Numismatic Journal and later he became president of the Society. (As a footnote it should be pointed out that Andrews' scholarship did not improve. The BNJ serialized a work by him on the coinage of King Stephen that is almost as bad as his work on Henry I). But there can be serious consequences to both the reviewer who pans a major work and to the publisher of that review. At times such bad reviews can mean that the reviewer knows that he is making enemies who may try to take literary or professional revenge." RIGHTS TO ANDREWS NUMBERS Terry Trantow writes: "I have been a collector of Australian/ New Zealand coins and tokens since 1962, and just obtained a copy of the year 2000 (19th edition) of 'RENNIKS Australian Coin & Banknote Values'. While it is unfortunate the catalog does not include New Zealand and Tasmanian tokens (as it did in the past), it also does not include Andrews Numbers (used since c.1921 or so) in this new edition. [Editor's note: Trantow refers to a different Andrews than the subject of the "Devastating Reviews" piece.] A fellow Australian collector relates to me the reason that Andrews numbers were not included was due to restrictions by an American holder of their copyrighted use, about which I know nothing. The unfortunate outcome of this situation is that there are now four different catalog numbers (Andrews,Heyde, Renniks, and the NEW Renniks numbers issued for the Australian trade tokens. The Australian Numismatic Society (ANS) has published a listing of the various old/new catalog numbers of each variety, but there remain some problems when an individual piece is given an incorrect catalog number. Any information a reader or member can offer as to the rights for the Andrews numbers will be welcomed." FROSSARD OBITUARY SOUGHT David Fanning writes: "I'm trying to gather together some info on Ed. Frossard, the nineteenth-century American coin dealer. George Kolbe gave me some info, but I don't have access to the necessary volumes and I was wondering if someone out there can help. I need to find his obituary. It ran in the April 1899 issue of the AJN and, I believe, the issue of The Numismatist of the same month. If anyone would have a copy of either and would be willing to look up the info I need, I'd appreciate it greatly if they would respond to me. Thanks." Your editor had technical difficulties reaching his AJN shelf. There are currently boxes of books piled six high in front of it, and technically, that's a problem. But balancing on one leg was enough to retrieve the 1899 volume of The Numismatist. A photocopy will be forwarded to Mr. Fanning. If you have the desired AJN issue, or other information on Ed Frossard, please contact him at this email address: fanning32@earthlink.net VISITING BOOKSTORES Henry Bergos writes: "If we are gong to list non-numismatic book stores, Strand cannot be left out. Many of my books are from there and when I dealt, some of my merchandise was from there. I used to get Breens there for $45 each. It is on 4 Ave and 12 St. and on the net. When you come MAKE SURE TO VISIT THE RARE BOOK ROOM UPSTAIRS. The only word of caution: come AFTER my next visit...." [Editor's note: Brooklyn-based Bergos is referring to Strand Books, 828 Broadway at 12th. One review from the web: "With over two million new and used books and eight miles of shelves, the Strand is the institution New York bibliophiles love to hate and hate to love. Visiting the Strand for the first -- or the thousandth -- time is overwhelming. The towering stacks of nebulously organized books hold treasures you never knew you desired. The narrow, labyrinthine aisles are crowded with piles of not-yet- shelved volumes and fellow booklovers to stumble over. In the summer, the lack of air conditioning makes you so delirious that you will actually buy that completely unaffordable first edition." (from http://newyork.citysearch.com/)] ANDREW ELLIOT, 18TH-CENTURY COIN MAVEN Andrew Pollock reported the following on the C4 (Colonial Coin Collector's Club mailing list: "I stumbled across the following paragraph in Sibley's Harvard Graduates, Volume X, under the biographical sketch of Andrew Eliot (Class of 1737): "Eliot [third minister of the New North Church of Boston] was sincerely interested in history. He rescued old coins from silversmiths and sent them to the collectors among his English friends. He remarked that pine-tree shillings of several dies were still common, but that he had only seen one New England sixpence in his life." The date of his numismatic interest is not mentioned but his death is said to have occurred in 1778. Shipton, Clifford K. "Biographical Sketches of Those Who Attended Harvard College in the Classes 1736-1740, with Bibliographical and Other Notes." Volume X. Boston, Mass. Massachusetts Historical Society. 1958." Your Editor's web search for Andrew Eliot turned up a reference to the E-Sylum archive, where Eliot was mentioned in the Vol 1, No 5. issue (October 14, 1998). Joel Orosz had mentioned Eliot at a talk to the Chicago Coin Club. After forwarding Pollack's information to Joel, he replied: "I've never written anything about Elliot, only spoke about him, as you note, to the Chicago Coin Club. It was Eric Newman who first discovered that Elliot was a coin collector. He wrote about Rev. Elliot in "The Secret of the Good Samaritan Shilling", if memory serves. This is a great find on Pollock's part - it adds an important fact to our knowledge about 18th century U.S. numismatics- that the NE Sixpence was exceedingly rare even then. Elliot did die in 1778. Thanks for sending Andy my way - this is great stuff!" NATURE PRINTING Dan Friedus, in his September 25, 2000 Coin World column, (p70) discusses nature printing on colonial American currency. A quick search on the topic at the Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/) turned up two books related to nature printing: Bradbury, Henry [Riley], 1831-1860. Nature-printing: its origin and objects. London, Bradbury and Evans, 1856. 28 p. 28 x 22 cm. Bethmann, Laura Donnelly, Nature printing with herbs, fruits & flowers / Laura Donnelly Bethmann. Pownal, Vt. : Storey Pub., c1996. v, 90 p. : col. ill. ; 27 cm. Your editor seems to recall at least one other book on the topic, titled "Typographica Naturalis" But recent searches have come up empty. Can any of our readers provide information on this book - does it exist? FEATURED WEB SITE This week's featured web site highlights a private collection of coins, medals, paper money, and books relating to the Napoleonic wars. The site has some great illustrations, and the homepage has a neat "slide show" feature for viewing all the illustrations in sequence. http://medals.napoleonicwars.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 21704 (To be removed from this mailing list write to me at whomren@coinlibrary.com)
