SOTHEBY'S MILNE-HENDERSON SALE

Sotheby's is delighted to announce that the timed online sale of The Patricia Milne-Henderson Collection: Books on Coins, Medals and Antiquities will take place from 8 to 18 July. This comprehensive and fascinating collection of numismatic books contains many rare and variant editions with wonderful illustrations.

The earliest book is Fulvio’s Illustrium Imagines of 1517, from where the collection stretches through the sixteenth century with numerous works by Du Choul, Goltzius, Huttich, Orsini, Strada and Vico. The later books include a unique copy of the Earl of Pembroke’s coin catalogue with manuscript documents about the collection bound in, and the Earl of Bute’s copy of Joseph Smith’s catalogue.

The provenances include Charles II, Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun, Sir William Stirling Maxwell, the Duke of Northumberland, the Earl of Pembroke and William Beckford, with fine bindings by Samuel Mearne and Kalthoeber, together with an early sixteenth-century Oxford binding with twelfth-century pastedowns. Association copies include a presentation copy signed by Abraham Ortelius and Francis Godwin’s copy of Agustín with his notes on Roman inscriptions he found in Caerleon in 1608-1609.

Registration for this sale will be available from 8 to 18 July.

Illustrium imagines

Andrea Fulvio (c.1470–1527), Illustrium imagines. Rome: Giacomo Mazzochi, 15 November 1517

This work is generally considered the first book to use medallion portraits of illustrious men and women in order to provide historical illustrations and moral exempla. Each page is designed to resemble an antique monument with the portrait above and the text (comprising a brief biography) carved beneath. The portraits are based on coins and medals in Mazzocchi's collection.

Illustrium philosophorum

Girolamo Olgiati, Illustrium philosophorum, et sapientum effigies ab eorum numismatibus extractae. Venice, 1583

The elegant binding was made by Samuel Mearne and is consistent with the bindings he made for Charles II's library at St James's; records show that he bound 830 books for St James's between 1663 and 1667.

Deorum dearumque capita ex vetustis numismatibus

Abraham Ortelius Deorum dearumque capita ex vetustis numismatibus in gratiam antiquitatis studiosorum effigiata et edita. Antwerp: Philippe Galle, 1573

A book from the Earl of Pembroke's library at Wilton House; his books were mostly bound in this typical fashion, with the earl's pencil notes to the binder specifying the covering material ("Turkey") and the wording for the lettering-piece.

Numismata antiqua

Thomas Herbert, Eighth Earl of Pembroke, Numismata antiqua. London, before 1746

This is a pre-publication copy which includes manuscript documents relating to the recently-deceased eighth earl of Pembroke including a note from the ninth earl acknowledging receipt of the "the collection of medals of sundry sorts & metals… in trust for the use of me and the succeeding Earls of Pembroke" dated 1733.

Coins of the Kings of Macedonia

Duane, Coins of the Kings of Macedonia. London, 1798

The Beckford-Gennadius-Clements copy of Duane’s rare work on Macedonian coins with proof plates.

For more information on the sale, see:
The Patricia Milne-Henderson Collection: Books on Coins, Medals and Antiquities (www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/2016/online-patricia-milne-henderson-collection-books-coins-medals-antiquities-l16410.html)

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web