Kolbe & Fanning
Auction 159 6 Mar 2021
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Original Blades on Printers' Medals
Blades, William. NUMISMATA TYPOGRAPHICA; OR, THE MEDALLIC HISTORY OF PRINTING. London: Reprinted from the "Printers' Register," 1883. 4to [27.5 by 22 cm], later red cloth, gilt. xvii, (3), 144 pages; descriptions of 259 medals; occasional text illustrations; 24 well-executed lithographic plates, 23 depicting medals. Title page and blank verso of final plate somewhat discolored. Very good. Numismata Typograhica is the second, greatly improved, edition of Blades's numismatic magnum opus. It remains the standard work on the topic and is of exceptional rarity. The work is not recorded in Clain-Stefanelli (though a 48-page work, written in French and published in 1880 is cited), Grierson, nor the Dictionary Catalogue of the Library of the American Numismatic Society (the ANS acquired its copy only in 1989). It was originally issued in installments in the Printers' Register from July 1878 to February 1883. As the preface states, "a very limited number has now been reprinted, partly for friendly presentation, and partly to afford any one interested in the subject an easier means of reference than the pages of a serial publication." In Blades's obituary appearing in the 1890 American Journal of Numismatics, W.T.R. Marvin calls his collection of the medals of printers "probably unrivaled." Marvin mentions Blades's 1869 work but when referring to the 1883 edition underscores its rarity even at that time by stating: "The latter work we have not seen, but it is highly commended by those competent to judge." Comparing the 1869 with the 1883 edition, the Dictionary of National Biography terms the latter "improved and enlarged." It also notes that only twenty-five copies of the 1869 edition were printed (Jehne, in Über Buchdruck-Medaillen, says 100). Judging from copies known to be extant, however, the lower number may be correct. William Blades was a noted printing historian and was one of the best known and respected English printers of his time. His works on William Caxton, England's first printer, remain valuable even today.
Blades, William. NUMISMATA TYPOGRAPHICA; OR, THE MEDALLIC HISTORY OF PRINTING. London: Reprinted from the "Printers' Register," 1883. 4to [27.5 by 22 cm], later red cloth, gilt. xvii, (3), 144 pages; descriptions of 259 medals; occasional text illustrations; 24 well-executed lithographic plates, 23 depicting medals. Title page and blank verso of final plate somewhat discolored. Very good. Numismata Typograhica is the second, greatly improved, edition of Blades's numismatic magnum opus. It remains the standard work on the topic and is of exceptional rarity. The work is not recorded in Clain-Stefanelli (though a 48-page work, written in French and published in 1880 is cited), Grierson, nor the Dictionary Catalogue of the Library of the American Numismatic Society (the ANS acquired its copy only in 1989). It was originally issued in installments in the Printers' Register from July 1878 to February 1883. As the preface states, "a very limited number has now been reprinted, partly for friendly presentation, and partly to afford any one interested in the subject an easier means of reference than the pages of a serial publication." In Blades's obituary appearing in the 1890 American Journal of Numismatics, W.T.R. Marvin calls his collection of the medals of printers "probably unrivaled." Marvin mentions Blades's 1869 work but when referring to the 1883 edition underscores its rarity even at that time by stating: "The latter work we have not seen, but it is highly commended by those competent to judge." Comparing the 1869 with the 1883 edition, the Dictionary of National Biography terms the latter "improved and enlarged." It also notes that only twenty-five copies of the 1869 edition were printed (Jehne, in Über Buchdruck-Medaillen, says 100). Judging from copies known to be extant, however, the lower number may be correct. William Blades was a noted printing historian and was one of the best known and respected English printers of his time. His works on William Caxton, England's first printer, remain valuable even today.