Last week David Gladfelter kicked off an email discussion of the Whitman Red Book of Canadian coins with a note to Howard R. Engel of Richard Stockley Books. -Editor

"Howard, what do you know about the so-called Whitman Red Book of Canadian coins, by James A. Haxby? The first edition came out in 2012 at $20 but there seem to have been no others. The Unitrade Press guide by Haxby & Willey continues to come out annually and so does the Charlton guide. What happened to the Whitman version? I see it advertised for >$100 U.S. – that's the first edition. Strange."

"Thanks for your intriguing inquiry. As it turns out, I know precious little about this particular Haxby publication on Canadian decimal coins. In fact, it is quite apparent to me from your question that you already know that much more about it than I do. That said, is this an accurate, more detailed description of it:

"Haxby, James A. A GUIDE BOOK OF CANADIAN COINS AND TOKENS. First edition. Whitman: Atlanta, 2012. 8vo, original pictorial boards. 461, (3) pages; illustrated in color?

"Consequently, I'm copying this message to a few numismatic friends of mine (and some are no doubt likewise numismatic friends of yours as well). I'm hoping at least one or more of them may well be able to shed some light on this question. Interestingly, 3 are from the Canadian author side (i.e. Alan, Dan and Darryl) while the other 3 are from the U.S. publisher side (i.e. Joel, Len and Wayne). I trust that one or more of them would be so kind as to enlighten the rest of us who may not already know much about this particular Haxby work."

In addition to me, Howard contacted Alan Roy, Dan Gosling, Darryl Atchison, Joel Orosz, and Len Augsburger. I went straight to the source and immediately passed the question to Dennis Tucker of Whitman Publishing. -Editor

"Thank you for your interest in this book. David is correct, we published the 1st edition in 2012, and the 2nd edition is a work in progress."

Dennis kindly provided sample pages from the upcoming book. -Editor

"This hasn't been publicized yet, but later this year we'll be releasing 100 Greatest Canadian Coins and Tokens, a richly illustrated new coffee-table book sure to delight every collector and historian. The author is Dr. Harvey Richer, whose volume on the gold coins of Newfoundland you might be familiar with."

"I wasn't aware of this book at all since it was published after the Canadian Numismatic Bibliography came out in 2007 and I often miss new publications from that side of the pond!

"I would love to get my hands on a copy to review for an update of the CNB that I am currently working on."

That's all great news! We can all look forward to some new numismatic books in the near and farther future:

• Haxby, James A., A Guide Book of Canadian Coins and Tokens, Second edition.
• Richer, Harvey, 100 Greatest Canadian Coins and Tokens, First edition
• Atchison, Darryl, Canadian Numismatic Bibliography, Second edition