Watch List notes:

RUSSIAN NUMISMATIC REFERENCES AND SALE CATALOGS Russian Numismatic References and Sale Catalogs. The first numismatic work printed in Russia Bayer, Theophilus Siegfried. THEOPHILI SIGEFRIDI BAYERI REGIO-MONTANI. HISTORIA OSRHOËNI ET EDESSENA EX NVMIS ILLUSTRATA, IN QUA, EDESSA VRBIS, OSRHOËNI REGNI, ABGARORUM REGUM, PRAEFECTORUM GRAECORUM, ARABUM, PERSARUM, COMITUM FRANCORUM, SUCCESSIONES, FATA, RES ALIA MEMORABILES, A PRIMA ORIGENE VRBIS AD EXTREMA FERE TEMPORA EXPLICANTUR. Petropoli: ex typographia Academiae, 1734. Only edition, 4to, pp [10], 362 [10]; printed in Roman, Greek Syriac and Arabic fonts; 7 engraved plates of numismatic interest; chronological tables in the text. Original blue paper-covered backed in brown calf, red morocco label (faded to pink) on spine. Without front and end paper, but generally a very pleasing example of one of the first books printed at the printing offices of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg which began its activity in 1727. The very first numismatic book printed in Russia, elusive and important rarity.. Very fine. A renowned polymath, philologist, orientalist and classicist, Bayer, who hailed from the same family as the famous astronomer Johannes Bayer, lived for many years in St. Petersburg, and was a founding member of the Russian Imperial Academy. Bayer published many works on Oriental numismatics.. The book above is an overview of the complete history (until about 1400) of Edessa. Now known as Urfa, in southeastern Turkey, Edessa was once the capital of a small kingdom which kept a relative and precarious independence from the Romans and the Persians. When the Roman Empire fell, the city was contested between the Persians and the Byzantines, and later conquered by the Arabs. It fell later to the Franks , and then became part of the Ottoman Empire. The coins represented in the plates are all from the period of the independent kingdom.

Estimate: $2500