ASYLUM WINTER 2020 ISSUE PUBLISHED

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V23 2020 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 23, Number 46, November 15, 2020, Article 2

Maria Fanning edits our print journal The Asylum, and she submitted this report on the latest issue. Thanks! Looking forward to it. -Editor

The Asylum's Winter 2020 issue is on its way to NBS members. It's been a strange year but one that has allowed NBS members to make full use of their home libraries and share them with other bibliophiles through The Asylum. Thanks to everyone who contributed this year, and especially to our two-part special issue on the evolution of a numismatic library.

Let's keep those stories coming in 2021! What is the oldest/largest/smallest book in your library? What book or catalogue has interesting associations or special significance? Pick something out of your library and share it with other NBS members. Our next issue deadline is February 1, which should leave ample time explore that fascinating item.

The Rare First Printing of The Fantastic 1804 Dollar: An Explanatory and Comprehensive Census of Surviving Copies
By Leonard Augsburger and Joel J. Orosz

Good Manners for Today's Polite Coin Collector: A Cradle-to-Grave Handbook of Numismatic Etiquette
By Christopher R. McDowell

21 Years After Frost's Encheiridion: The Second American Book on Ancients
By David D. Gladfelter

James Ferrier, Jr.: Hardware Merchant, Numismatist and Microscopist
By Ted Banning

Throughout the long storied history of book collecting, whether for knowledge, pleasurable reading or their accumulation as collectables themselves, special people have preserved treasured volumes for future generations to appreciate. Fortunately, since the first numismatic books were published, the numismatic community has had its share of collectors who have valued the recorded written history of the hobby.

Collecting sequential foundational works about our favorite numismatic items and personalities provides a view of the evolution of the scholarship of a particular branch of the hobby. Annotated auction catalogs transport us back to 19th-century smoke-filled auction houses to identify what specific collectors and dealers were acquiring. While the provenance of very few coins can be positively traced, occasionally numismatic works have been inscribed providing a link to a famous collector or dealer's library.

These works are the conduit that connect us to the pioneers of the hobby and provide an insight into their collecting realm. Undeniably, the technology age has provided incredible benefits to the hobby, however it cannot replace the tranquilly of holding and perusing the pages of our antiquarian friends in our libraries. Thanks to the NBS membership, the tradition of collecting, appreciating and preserving these numismatic time capsules is being carried on for future generations.

May your numismatic library provide investigation, discovery and, most of all, enjoyment.

NBS Membership Renewal Time!
Please renew your membership in the NBS to continue receiving The Asylum in 2021. Go to coinbooks.org to pay by PayPal or download a membership form today.