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V23 2020 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 23, Number 1, January 5, 2020, Article 4

NEW BOOK: THE NUMISMATIC EDGAR ALLAN POE

Greg Ruby edits The Fourth Garrideb, a newsletter devoted to the numismatics of the Sherlock Holmes canon. He's published a new book on another literary topic, the numismatics of Edgar Allan Poe. Congratulations! Here's the announcement. -Editor

The Numismatic Edgar Allan Poe cover I'm pleased to announce that The Numismatic Edgar Allan Poe, a project inspired by your readers' reactions to one of the first posts from The Fourth Garrideb website that you were kind to share, is currently at the printers and will be available starting 1/20.

The 160 pages feature over 50 numismatic items, plus sections for Hobo nickels, pathtags and other related items. In addition, we have included several related articles relating to Poe and numismatics.

Paperback version is $25 postpaid. Hardbound version is $50 postpaid, and quantity will be based on orders received by 2/1., with shipment shortly thereafter. The hardbound edition will also feature color photographs when available.

American Museum of Literature and the Arts cover Book of the Poe Centenary cover

E-Sylum readers are awesome, and this isn't the first time their contributions have inspired an author - for example, Fred Reed's book Show Me the Money about stage currency and movie money came about after discussions of the topic. I'm glad we could help.

The book opens with five interesting chapters laying out the arc of Poe's life and work, as well as the history of his gravesite and markers funded by fans of the father of the detective novel genre. The Introduction to the Catalog lays out the book's identification scheme noting that gaps have been left for anticipated future discoveries. Books such as these are always works in progress that may never be fully done, but discovery is all part of what we enjoy about numismatics.

While price guides can also become quickly obsolete, they are at the top of the list of desired features in a catalog for many collectors and dealers. The book provides a price estimate range for each piece described, on a scale of ten levels ranging from under $10 to over $1,000.

Tom Elder's Poe Medallion obverse Bibliophiles will appreciate the entries for the Grolier Club Poe medallions and the University of Virginia Poe Centenary medal, which came housed in an accompanying book. Coin dealer Thomas Elder also produced a nice medal in his "Medallions of the Immortals" series.

The range of Poe material is wide, spanning not just tokens and medals but also coins, badges, ingots and wooden money. I particularly liked the medals and commemorative and fantasy banknotes, many of which were quite well designed and executed. The book illustrates nearly every piece. Most are described in great detail and included are interesting diversions into related numismatic topics such as the under-construction second Mint of the United States and Poe's criticism of the 1849 gold dollar.

Contributors include NBS Historian Joel J. Orosz and Dr. Heinz Tschachler, author of the book The Monetary Imagination of Edgar Allan Poe - Banking, Currency and Politics in the Writings.

The Numismatic Edgar Allan Poe is far more than a straightforward catalog of items - it is quite readable and entertaining, holding quite a few tidbits of interesting numismatic information - ideal for the typical E-Sylum reader.

-Editor

5-Zilchy-Edgar-Allan-Poe front
5-Zilchy-Edgar-Allan-Poe-back
Mujand Republic 5 Zilchy Fantasy Banknote

For more information, or to order, see:
https://PoeCoinBook.com or
https://fourthgarrideb.com/shop/

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
NUMISMATIC REMEMBRANCES OF EDGAR ALLAN POE (https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v17n45a22.html)
MORE NUMISMATIC REMEMBRANCES OF EDGAR ALLAN POE (https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v17n46a10.html)
NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: NOVEMBER 16, 2014 : Jeff Starck 's Article on Poe Medals (https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v17n47a12.html)

E-Sylum Northeast ad01


Wayne Homren, Editor

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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

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