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The E-Sylum: Volume 11, Number 6, February 10, 2008, Article 17 QUIZ ANSWER: NEW YORK STATE LIBRARY NUMISMATIC AUTHOR JOHN HICKCOX Last week I asked "which numismatic author worked for the New York State Library?" To which George Kolbe adds "... and was found guilty of nefarious activities later in his career?" Jim Duncan had a guess but the first and only correct answer was provided by George Kolbe. The answer I had in mind was John H. Hickcox, author of 'An Historical Account of American Coinage', published in 1858. Only 200 copies of this work were produced and apparently most were distributed to historians and libraries rather than coin collecting circles. Although extremely rare the book was the first comprehensive work on American coinage and provided the foundation for information that would appear in later classic works. I consider my original copy of Hickcox a centerpiece of my numismatic library. After working in the New York State Library in Albany, by 1870 Hickcox was living in Washington D.C. and working at the Library of Congress. Hickcox is known in library circles as the creator of United States Government Publications: A Monthly Catalogue, also known as Hickcox's Monthly Catalogue. But in 1882 Hickcox's career came to an abrupt end. He was arrested for taking letters addressed to the Librarian of Congress. According to Q. David Bowers in his book 'American Numismatics Before the Civil War', his crime was 'opening mail letters and pocketing the money'. QUICK QUIZ: What OTHER numismatic title was authored by Hickcox? For more information on John H. Hickcox, see: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Howard_Hickcox,_Sr. repositories.cdlib.org NEW YORK STATE LIBRARY ARCHIVIST ARRESTED FOR DOCUMENT THEFT esylum_v11n05a16.html Wayne Homren, Editor The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org. To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@coinlibrary.com To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum | |
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