Holy Gutenberg — I got some book-learnin’ to do about book printing! Thanks Bob Leonard, you caught me asleep at the switch on that one — and I still don’t quite understand what Riddell did. Somehow he took the relief images of coins and made them simply up or down images to print. And I accidently insulted Riddell by saying he didn’t want to spend the money on line art when he was actually pioneering something quite new and valuable.

My ignorance of pre-photographic printing techniques leaves me in awe of you grand folks, both numismatists and book scholars.

As I work on El Numiscadero, my Spanish-English numismatic dictionary I find both the words imprenta – to print – and impronta – to make a rubbing, I think! With Bob’s observations I can see there are still some details to be worked out.

In response to Bob Leonard’s E-Sylum contribution concerning the illustrations in the 1845 Riddell "Monograph of the Silver Dollar,” I do not have an original at hand. The following footnote, which I hope is useful, follows the one sold in 2007 in Kolbe Sale 104:

"John Leonard Riddell (1807–1865) was Melter and Refiner at the Branch Mint from 1838 to 1849; from 1860 to 1863 he served as Postmaster of New Orleans. The illustrations in this valuable work are most unusual. Though having the superficial appearance of rubbings they were, according to the author, made from “metal types adapted for printing, indirectly from the coins themselves, which, if they do not always make a handsome print, give a perfectly correct, and I think, satisfactory representation.” Apparently, the resulting method of printing necessitated the impression on only one side of each signature. Despite apparent widespread initial distribution of the Monograph of the Dollar, sales must have been small, judging from the number of copies still extant. It is a pity. Riddell’s charming illustrations, if appearing to be a bit crude, are amazingly accurate and are actually the most realistic depictions of coins to appear in print up to that time. His unique process surpassed medallic ruling machine illustrations and was not superseded until the use of photographic coin illustrations became feasible in the 1870s. Beyond its obvious interest to American numismatists, Riddell’s Monograph is still widely consulted by collectors of Mexican and Latin American eight reales."

My recollection is that the Riddell illustrations in the reprint are of considerably lower quality than those found in the original (consistent with most reprints done before the wonders of computer imaging technology).

Riddell’s text seems to suggest that the text and plates were printed in the same press run but I never entertained the possibility that two runs were done and, accordingly, never looked for any such signs. Perhaps a Big E reader fortunate enough to possess an original Riddell can provide light on the topic.

I'm not sure how to tell if the original Riddell was printed in two runs. I have two originals, and one reprint, and the illustrations and printing in the reprint are of lower quality than in the original. As I look over the original, the illustrations and descriptions below each are printed on one side, and appear to be consistent with each other. There are good margins around the coin illustrations, so I guess there would be a possibility of two print runs as the placement of the coin illustrations would not have to be terribly accurate to fit the page space allotted.

In Riddell's "Concluding Remarks," he states that "After many trials, overcoming successive difficulties as they presented themselves, I at length succeeded in preparing metal types adapted for printing, indirectly from the coins themselves, which, if they do not always make a handsome print, give a perfectly correct, and I think, satisfactory representation." He goes on to say "....all these matters, and the details of the plan itself, I shall give an account at a future time, in a more appropriate place."

I'm not sure if he ever got around to an explanation as I have never seen any such information in print. So, I cannot give a definite answer to the question of two print runs, but it would appear from the original copy that the illustrations and descriptions are fairly uniform in appearance.