Watch List notes:

Clay, Charles. ON THE BRASS, COPPER, AND OTHER CURRENCY OF THE ISLE OF MAN / ADDITIONAL COINS, TOKENS, MEDALS &C., IN CONNECTION WITH THE ISLE OF MAN. Proceedings of the Manchester Numismatic Society, Parts I and IV, along with Part V, which includes unrelated papers (Manchester: A. Ireland and Co., Printers, 1864 and 1867). vi, 17, (1); (71)–89, (1); (91)–114 pages; 1 fine albumen photographic plate depicting Manx coins with tissue guard; 5 lithographic plates with tissue guards; text illustrations [entire issues present]. Original printed paper covers bound in. [bound with] Nelson, Philip. COINAGE OF THE ISLE OF MAN. Removed from the Numismatic Chronicle, Series III, Vol. XIX, pages (35)–80; 4 autotype plates of Manx coins, numbered III–VI [complete for Nelson's article]. With an annotation in the hand of Lyman H. Low. Four publications total, bound in one volume. 8vo, modern brown cloth, gilt, with added typographic title page (Nelson work bound first). Generally fine. The Clay works are very rare. Publication of the Proceedings of the Manchester Numismatic Society abruptly ceased in 1873, after only two issues of the second volume had been published. According to a note in the Vol. II, Part I, 1871 issue: "It was decided that in future only 90 small paper and 10 large paper copies should be printed." At its height, the society had a grand total of thirty-five members and, judging from their paucity, it seems that most issues sent to members have not survived. It also appears that fifty sets of the Proceedings of the Manchester Numismatic Society, published 1864–1873, were reserved by Clay "for general sale" (three sets appeared in the 1871 sale of his collection and the American Numismatic Society has a set complete through 1873). Other than the large-paper set in our January 2012 sale, we are unaware of the private or public sale of a complete set of this publication, and individual issues are very rarely encountered. It seems likely that most remained unsold in Clay's lifetime and have since perished. The photographic plate depicting coinage of the Isle of Man is present in the first issue, and is exceptionally fine (considerably nicer than the one in the large-paper set mentioned previously). It is among the earliest published numismatic photographs. Clay's articles on Isle of Man currency serve as a forerunner of Clay's classic 1869 work on the topic. There are also several illustrated articles on ancient coins and other numismatic topics. Dr. Charles Clay (1801–1893) was a noted English surgeon, called the "Father of Ovariotomy." In the early 1840s, he performed the first hysterectomy. Interested in geology and archaeology, the cosmopolitan doctor also amassed a collection of over 1000 editions of the Old and New Testaments. While the coins and currency of the Isle of Man may have been his first numismatic love, his remarkably extensive collection of American silver and copper surely placed a close second. Sylvester Crosby, in Early Coins of America, thanked Dr. Clay "for impressions of many coins in his collection, then in England" and, at age 70, his collection of Isle of Man currency and "Valuable Collection of American Coins & Medals" was sold at auction in New York by Strobridge and Woodward. Ex Kolbe Sale 4, lot 635; ex Dr. Russell Hibbs Library (Kolbe & Fanning Sale 124), lot 141, with his label; ex Syd Martin Library, with his bookplate.