Select Numismatic Bibliography

Numismatics, often considered as a leisurely pastime, a delightful hobby, or a profitable enterprise, is in fact a very exacting science. Encompassing world history from the time of the Greeks up to the present day, it concentrates on money, one of the determining factors in world events. But to collect coins without trying to explain their historical background is a senseless enterprise. We feel, therefore, that historians in general and numismatists in particular could benefit tremendously through increased reading in this field. But selection of the most useful reading material is sometimes difficult because the number of numismatic references increases constantly. To the many writings of the past is added monthly a considerable number of publications. Which books or articles are worth the time that a nonprofessional — or even professional — reader can devote, and where should he turn for advice? As early as three hundred years ago, the need was felt to help the interested person in his selection of references. In 1664 Philippe Labbe printed in Paris his Bibliotheca Nummaria in two parts. It soon found an echo among German scholars, and Burcard Gotthelf Struve published in Jena only thirty years later his Bibliotheca Numismatum Antiquiorum. In 1760 another German, Johann Christoph Hirsch, presented the numismatic reader with a better and considerably larger work, Bibliotheca Numismatica, published in Nuremberg. The constantly increasing number of scientific papers on coins and medals during the past two hundred years discouraged any attempts to give a general conspectus of numismatic publications, leaving the field open to specialized or selected bibliographies. So, for instance, J. Leitzmann wrote in 1867 his Biblotheca Numaria, a listing of works published between 1800 and 1866. The use of an index of topics was adopted to overcome the shortcomings of a purely alphabetical arrangement of authors. A brief handbook on Coins and Medals, written in 1920 by Sir George F. Hill as a help for students of history, gave a very succinct but handy general bibliography arranged by topics. This guidebook for students of history was largely revised by Philip Grierson more recently in his Coins and Medals, a Select Bibliography (London, 1954). Besides a number of specialized bibliographies, this excellent but brief reference has been the only general aid available to the numismatic researcher. The author therefore felt it would be useful to compile a bibliography which would serve as a key to the vast literature of the entire numismatic field. Numismatics in all its complexity — including the study of medals and decorations and a history of prices and related economic and historical problems —was taken into consideration in this bibliography, thus providing reference material otherwise difficult to obtain. Titles in many languages were considered in order to give complete, worldwide coverage to numismatics; indeed, this bibliography is not addressed to the English reader alone. In spite of its scope and the number of entries, the present compilation is not exhaustive, because it consists of only a small selection of references which the author deemed necessary or interesting to most readers; and, like any selection, it necessarily carries the stamp of personal preference. Its main purpose is to satisfy the most diversified interests and to present numismatics with its multiple facets, which lead to a wide variety of related subjects
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