The Numismatic Bibliomania Society

PREV ARTICLE       NEXT ARTICLE       FULL ISSUE       PREV FULL ISSUE      

V11 2008 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 11, Number 24, June 15, 2008, Article 6

NEW BOOK: AMULETTES DE CHINE (AMULETS OF CHINA)

Howard a. Daniel III writes: "I received a New Books flyer from the Bibliotheque Nationale de France (National Library of France) and it lists Amulettes de Chine by Francios Thierry. The ISBN is 978-2-7177-2402-8 and it is priced at 99 Euros. You can contact the library at commercial@bnf.fr to order a copy. But it can probably also be ordered from Amazon in the USA or one of its European branches.

The book is based on the 500 piece collection of Henri Fontanier, who brought it back to France in 1867. Francios Thierry is the researcher-writer about the numismatic pieces of East Asia in France. Besides this book, he has produced several other excellent books about Vietnamese pieces that are in my library, and I often correspond with him about the numismatics of Viet Nam and Cambodia and Laos."

Scott Semans also lists the book on his web site as follows: "Amulettes de Chine et du Viet-Nam Catalog of 303 pieces (mostly Chinese) with description, specs, interpretation, and good photo. Essay on typology, functions, inscriptions & calligraphy, casting, dating, and coin-like charms. French text. Bibliography, index. Most informative work in a Western language." His response to my query follows. -Editor.
Scott Semans writes: "This is a new work and I have not seen it yet; his earlier work including Vietnamese charms is much more limited, and out of print. I will stock it, but anyone wanting it quickly can get it from the French Amazon site: http://www.amazon.fr.

Thierry's scholarship is top notch and based on his other works, I would expect significant information on the symbolism and uses of particular pieces, while other works are usually just picture books, or Chinese-language works on charm collecting, which are not actually catalogs.

What I usually recommend is a two-volume set from China by Zheng Yiwei et al, Classic Chinese Charms which covers exactly 10 times the number of pieces as the Thierry work and costs a bit less. Classic is bilingual English and Chinese with essays on all aspects of Chinese charms, information which has not been available before in a Western language, BUT the cataloguing of particular pieces is sketchy, which is where I expect Thierry's French-language work to be very useful.

Alex Fang, a Chinese scholar who is quite fluent in English, will have a work in press on this subject within a year, I believe. There has been a publishing explosion in Chinese numismatics since the early 1980s, and though still a sideline, it's particularly evident in the charms because there was so little in print previously, and interest in the subject goes beyond the numismatic hobby."

Many thanks to both Howard and Scott for bringing this work to our attention. -Editor


THE BOOK BAZARRE



DAVID SKLOW - FINE NUMISMATIC BOOKS now accepting consignments for our October 4th mail bid auction. Consignments in hand include a rare photograph of the 1929 ANA Convention numismaticbooks@aol.com (719) 302-5686, visit our web site www.finenumismaticbooks.com





Wayne Homren, Editor

Google
 
NBS (coinbooks.org) Web

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@gmail.com

To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum

PREV ARTICLE       NEXT ARTICLE       FULL ISSUE       PREV FULL ISSUE      

V11 2008 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

Copyright © 1998 - 2008 The Numismatic Bibliomania Society (NBS)
All Rights Reserved.

NBS Home Page
Contact the NBS webmaster
coin