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Review of 'A Bibliography of 17th Century Numismatic'
By Dr Alan Walker

For over 200 years any researcher seeking to delve into the history of numismatic scholarship had, perforce, to turn to J. G. Lipsius’ bibliography, published in Leipzig in 1801. He listed every book on numismatics that he knew of, some taken from earlier bibliographies and others added from personal inspection: it was very useful, and fairly easy to work with once you got used to it, but as everyone knows, it was far from complete. Obviously, one day it would have to be completely redone, but who would be dedicated enough to undertake such a difficult and lengthy task? It would have to be a labor of love for someone who was obsessed by the subject, a true numismatico-bibliographico-maniac who was willing to devote his life to a subject that, frankly, would only appeal to a very small number of people within the greater numismatic community. But, of course, to that select community of numismatic scholars, historians, coin collectors, bibliophiles, librarians, professional dealers, and those fascinated by how knowledge spread and diffused after the invention of printing, the writer of such a work would become a celebrity, as adored by that select audience as famous actors like Harrison Ford or Brad Pitt are by theirs. In 1997 the world of numismatics discovered that just such a ‘maniac’ existed when Kolbe and Spink published Christian Edmond Dekesel’s A Bibliography of 16th Century Numismatic Books. Instantly acclaimed as a bibliographic masterpiece, it was beautifully produced and authoritative, and provided a wealth of information, unavailable anywhere else, on all works on numismatics printed before 1600 (other than anonymous works of one type or another). This book was more than enough to elevate CED to star status within our select audience. But, in fact, and this shows what an extraordinary scholar CED is, that book was only Volume I of CED’s project: the complete survey of every numismatic work printed before 1800! Now CED’s Volume II has appeared, three stout volumes on the numismatic literature of the 17th century (Volume III will contain all 18th century works and Volume IV will contain all anonymous works of the 15th through 18th centuries), and, just as in 1997, we have a work of outstanding importance.

It begins with a forward by Andrew Burnett, followed by an extensive introduction outlining how the book works. CED first explains the way he came to define certain publications as numismatic, and thus to be included in his bibliography. How he discovered those books is explained by his research strategy: first incorporating the contents of all existing numismatic bibliographies, then utilizing the published holdings of the major institutional libraries in Europe and North America, and then, visiting an immense number of those libraries to actually check on the books themselves. He classifies the books he defines as numismatic in twelve different categories: ranging from those on coins or medals themselves to general histories with some numismatic references. I am sure that one could find reasons to quibble with CED’s classifications, but they are consistent, convenient, rational and easy to use, and I certainly could not suggest anything better. In what CED terms “bibliographic autopsy” he explains how each book has been analyzed to determine its author, place of publication, publisher, date, and format; he also includes all previous bibliographic references and cites the present libraries in which copies of the book can now be found.

Then appear three very useful analytical sections: the first divides Europe into 10 countries (or related geographic areas) and tabulates all their publications by city and decade of production; the second shows what category of book was produced where within those 10 countries; and the last shows us when each category of book was published by decade. The introduction ends with a section on 17th century periodicals, an addendum to CED’s 16th century volume, and CED’s acknowledgements.

The following 3094 pages, spread over three volumes, contain the full descriptions of the 2825 17th century numismatic publications CED has located. Each begins with a code comprising a letter (the first letter of the author’s name) and a number (denoting the book’s position within the series of all books under that letter), and then by its category: the work begins with J. J. Adelung, A 1 (Cat. 1), and ends with S. Zschaul, Z 11 (Cat. 2). This is followed by the author, a complete transcription of the title page (also illustrated whenever possible), the place of publication, the publisher-printer, the date of publication, the collation (i.e., the format, the number of quires and leaves per quire, the pagination), the colophon (if present), characteristics (primarily printing errors or changes between different issues of the same edition), references (citations in earlier bibliographies) and locations (modern libraries in which copies of the book can be found).

Anyone unfamiliar with bibliophilic conventions may well initially find the shorthand used in the descriptions of the collation and of any special characteristics difficult to comprehend, but CED’s patient explanation of how they work, pp. xiii-xv, makes them easy to follow when you have the actual book being described in hand. Very important as well is the fact that since CED has examined so many copies of each book, his descriptions are authoritative for completeness: my copy of P 35, Issue I lacks a plate. He is also astonishingly complete. I found my very first ‘old’ book in the extraordinary basement of a long gone bookstore (Dauber & Pine) at the bottom of Fifth Avenue in New York. For only $5 (this was long ago) I bought a two volume set of Suetonius, printed in Utrecht in 1690: in the original vellum bindings it was in wonderful condition and was filled with engravings, including portraits of all the emperors and their families in the form of coins. And it is Dekesel S 315 (Cat. 9 - portrait books)!

The work concludes with a number of important lists and indices. First is a detailed list of specialized and general bibliographies concerning 17th numismatic books. Then comes a very useful index of the names of authors, editors and translators, in all their variant spellings and permutations. A similar list follows of publishers and printers. There are two indices for places of publication: the first is alphabetical (including a key to variant city names) and then by category; the second is alphabetical by modern name and then by decade of publication (i.e., in both indices you learn that during the 17th century 37 numismatic works were published in Hamburg, in the first you learn their categories, in the second that only two came out between 1620 and 1629). There is also an equally useful index by year of publication and category (by the end of the century a very considerable number of books came out each year, with the record for the century, 83 publications, in 1696; the nadir was hit in 1646 with only 7). There is a short subject index (presumably taken from the title pages): there are a number of misprints to be found here, though none are particularly important (as achemy for alchemy, Attica for Attila, Trebonius for Trebonianus, and Troyan for Trojan). Another important list is that of works referred to in earlier bibliographies but which CED has been unable to find (most are probably just mistaken dates of publication or incorrect titles, but others may well exist somewhere waiting to be verified). The book ends with a list of all the libraries known to CED that contain 17th century numismatic works (interestingly enough, this list is not identical to the one in CED’s 16th century volume - Winterthur, for example, somewhat astonishingly has 16th century books but no 17th century ones).

No praise is high enough for this amazing assemblage of material, and for CED’s dedication and industry in amassing it. No one involved in the history of numismatics will be able to do any future research without having a copy of “Dekesel” in hand (or at least on a nearby shelf since it is quite heavy!), and every numismatic bibliophile will be lost without it. I only wish that there were even more information in it: perhaps some sort of biographical information on the authors, printers and publishers involved. And while we now know when and where and by whom these books were published, what I don’t know is what they cost: how much would a 17th antiquarian have to pay for his copy of Patin’s Familiae Romanae when it first came out in 1662? Would he have to go to one of the publishers to get it, or would his favorite bookseller get it for him? No doubt someone knows.

In fact, I really think that Kolbe and Spink should beg, entreat and cajole CED to produce (in his spare time [does he have any?]) a supplementary volume that would have two parts. One would primarily be informational and could contain reprints of CED’s long unobtainable biographies of Goltzius, Patin and Foy-Vaillant, as well as shorter notices on many of the other authors of the numismatic works CED has catalogued; an essay on how 16th - 18th century bookselling worked, how books went from publisher to consumer, and what the costs were; and, finally, a discussion of rarity. CED surely knows 16th-18th numismatic literature better than anyone else, and it would be tremendously interesting to learn which ones he thinks are the rarest, which ones are the most obscure, and which, among his lists of books cited in earlier bibliographies, but now unfindable, he would most like to discover. The second part of this book would be more personal: perhaps CED could tell us about some of the experiences he’s had durig his decades of search and travel, the people he’s met and the libraries and cities he’s visited (rather like those related by L. and N. Goldstone in Used and Rare. Travels in the Book World [New York, 1997]). I think it would be fascinating to read the stories that lie behind CED’s lifelong project .

Finally, two things. George Kolbe and Douglas Saville of Spink’s can not be thanked enough for sponsoring this project, and for producing such a superlative work of such great and lasting importance, so beautifully printed and bound. The entire field owes them a debt of gratitude that will be difficult to repay. We also have to wish CED the very best of health for a long and productive future, since he has so much more work to do! The 18th century volume is certainly going to be far bigger than the 3 weighty tomes of the 17th, and the volume listing anonymous works will also surely be very large, indeed. Should CED think any problems might occur to prevent him from continuing this vital project, I would suggest that despite any moral or ethical constraints we might have, we’ll simply have to have him cloned!