Kolbe & Fanning
Auction 161 18 Sep 2021
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An Original Set of Corpus Nummorum Italicorum
Victor Emmanuel III, King of Italy. CORPUS NUMMORUM ITALICORUM. PRIMO TENTATIVO DI UN CATALOGO GENERALE DELLE MONETE MEDIEVALE E MODERNE CONIATE IN ITALIA O DA ITALIANI IN ALTRI PAESI. Volumes I–XX, complete. Rome, 1910–1943. Volumes 1–19 are all original editions, published 1910–1940; Volume 20 is the 1971 Forni reprint. Folio. Volumes 1–14 are sturdily bound in matching later black pebbled cloth, gilt; Volumes 15–17 are Felix Schlessinger's personal copies, indicated as such, and are in rather worn black quarter calf, gilt. Volumes 18–19 are in somewhat worn black half morocco, gilt. Volume 20 is bound in the original blue leather and marbled boards, gilt. 11,144 pages; 679 fine plates of coins. Generally very good, with some of the bindings worn, and with some of the foxing to plates as usually seen. One of the landmark publications of 20th-century numismatics. King Victor Emmanuel began collecting coins at eight years of age and first conceived the idea for a corpus of coins in 1897 when he proposed it to the Italian Numismatic Society. It remains the most extensive and comprehensive work ever written on the coinage of a single country. The price of complete sets has declined in recent years, as modern works on the various Italian mints have been published, but there is no surpassing the grandeur of the original CNI. Three of the volumes here present were from the personal library of Felix Schlessinger, Mark Salton's father. Salton attempted for many years to locate and acquire volumes from his father's library, but his efforts were only occasionally successful. Those volumes have particular meaning to this library. A rare opportunity. Clain-Stefanelli 10186*: "A basic reference on the Italian coinage from the Middle Ages up to 1900." Grierson 160: "Un immense ouvrage descriptif, bâti autour de la collection du roi Victor Emmanuel."
Victor Emmanuel III, King of Italy. CORPUS NUMMORUM ITALICORUM. PRIMO TENTATIVO DI UN CATALOGO GENERALE DELLE MONETE MEDIEVALE E MODERNE CONIATE IN ITALIA O DA ITALIANI IN ALTRI PAESI. Volumes I–XX, complete. Rome, 1910–1943. Volumes 1–19 are all original editions, published 1910–1940; Volume 20 is the 1971 Forni reprint. Folio. Volumes 1–14 are sturdily bound in matching later black pebbled cloth, gilt; Volumes 15–17 are Felix Schlessinger's personal copies, indicated as such, and are in rather worn black quarter calf, gilt. Volumes 18–19 are in somewhat worn black half morocco, gilt. Volume 20 is bound in the original blue leather and marbled boards, gilt. 11,144 pages; 679 fine plates of coins. Generally very good, with some of the bindings worn, and with some of the foxing to plates as usually seen. One of the landmark publications of 20th-century numismatics. King Victor Emmanuel began collecting coins at eight years of age and first conceived the idea for a corpus of coins in 1897 when he proposed it to the Italian Numismatic Society. It remains the most extensive and comprehensive work ever written on the coinage of a single country. The price of complete sets has declined in recent years, as modern works on the various Italian mints have been published, but there is no surpassing the grandeur of the original CNI. Three of the volumes here present were from the personal library of Felix Schlessinger, Mark Salton's father. Salton attempted for many years to locate and acquire volumes from his father's library, but his efforts were only occasionally successful. Those volumes have particular meaning to this library. A rare opportunity. Clain-Stefanelli 10186*: "A basic reference on the Italian coinage from the Middle Ages up to 1900." Grierson 160: "Un immense ouvrage descriptif, bâti autour de la collection du roi Victor Emmanuel."