Which hardcover books should grace the library shelves at the estate?
Longacre
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Longacre has recently completed an expansion and renovation of the venerable Longacre Estate, located in an undisclosed location in Connecticut. Part of that renovation included some nice custom bookshelves, handmade by an artisan skilled in the woodworking trade. Substantial shelves were requested by Longacre, with nothing less than one inch boards used, to prevent unsightly sagging under the weight of his numismatic literature.
A debate has been raging at the estate, with Mrs. L opining that the shelves should be lined with the classics, to provide an air of sophistication to the room. Longacre, on the other hand, stresses practicality, with the view that the shelves should be for a working library. The interior decorator offered his opinion, which was dismissed, and Consuela kindly requested that the books not be too large to make the daily required dusting of them too burdensome.
Let's suppose you had to pick a group of numismatic books, say, two or three fee across, so as not to overwhelm the variety:
1. Would you pick just hard cover books? Would books like the Whitman Guides (softcovers) look too cheesy for the room?
2. Would you pick books that are cool and interesting, even if you do not collect the series? I was spying the QDB Whitman Obsolete Paper Money volumes, which look great and have a lot of info, but might not fit in with the coin books.
3. Would you lean toward nice new numismatic books, or old, dusty classic ones, for the very fact that they stood the test of time?
4. Which books would you consider putting on the shelves? I have a ton, but they are in another part of the estate and the library room cannot be exclusively a coin library. I can get any recommended ones that I don't already have.
A debate has been raging at the estate, with Mrs. L opining that the shelves should be lined with the classics, to provide an air of sophistication to the room. Longacre, on the other hand, stresses practicality, with the view that the shelves should be for a working library. The interior decorator offered his opinion, which was dismissed, and Consuela kindly requested that the books not be too large to make the daily required dusting of them too burdensome.
Let's suppose you had to pick a group of numismatic books, say, two or three fee across, so as not to overwhelm the variety:
1. Would you pick just hard cover books? Would books like the Whitman Guides (softcovers) look too cheesy for the room?
2. Would you pick books that are cool and interesting, even if you do not collect the series? I was spying the QDB Whitman Obsolete Paper Money volumes, which look great and have a lot of info, but might not fit in with the coin books.
3. Would you lean toward nice new numismatic books, or old, dusty classic ones, for the very fact that they stood the test of time?
4. Which books would you consider putting on the shelves? I have a ton, but they are in another part of the estate and the library room cannot be exclusively a coin library. I can get any recommended ones that I don't already have.
Always took candy from strangers
Didn't wanna get me no trade
Never want to be like papa
Working for the boss every night and day
--"Happy", by the Rolling Stones (1972)
Didn't wanna get me no trade
Never want to be like papa
Working for the boss every night and day
--"Happy", by the Rolling Stones (1972)
0
Comments
one could have matching bindings
custom holders to display an example of that referenced series encased on them too
surely you'll get through this quandary just fine in the end...
are anarchist cookbooks still in ?
I have most of my high value stuff under glass, but a mixture of moderns, classics and even paperbacks is fine, as long as they're organized.
Spend $100k on a nice set of 1st edition Tolkiens to keep the Missus happy.
IMHO.
Do you want the books themselves to be collectible or "just" useful?
Book Publishing Details:
Author: Bowers, Q. David
Full title: Commemorative Coins of the United States: A Complete Encyclopedia
Publisher: Bowers and Merena Galleries, Inc., 1991
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardcover
ISBN: 0943161363
EAN: 9780943161365
Size: 4to
Book ID: 010034
Comments & Item Features:
Signed by Author. First Edition. Limited Numbered Edition. Category: Antiques & Collectibles, Reference. Language: English. ISBN: 0943161363. EAN: 9780943161365.
Deluxe hardbound edition limited to 900 copies, hand signed by the author on a limitation plate on front end paper, this being copy number 84. Purple faux leather cloth over boards, gilt stamped lettering on cover and spine, 768 pages, Bibliography, Index, Artist Biographies, Index of Subjects on American Commemorative Coinage 1848-1991, illustrated in black-and-white.
That makes a difference.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
This is a list of what us bibliophiles consider to be the most important:
NBS Top 100 List
They range in cost from cheap $20 reprints to over $50,000 for originals of some, and a few are essentially unobtainable.
If you want a copy of what is in my numismatic book collection, send me a PM.
RMR: 'Wer, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen?'
CJ: 'No one!' [Ain't no angels in the coin biz]
of Lincoln Vanderblatt's Good Manners for Today's Polite Coin Collector:
A Cradle-to-Grave Primer of Numismatic Etiquette, edited by Dennis Tucker.
or you can get a "hard cover fascade" that lifts away rto access these lower class attempts at
book. If price is no object you camnn always have soft cover books bound but this can get very
expensive because soon you'll want all your books to have that same rich look. Even if you
forego the gold foil lettering this could run upward of $200 per book. Even small libraries can
get quite pricey. As long as you are getting hard covers you might as well treat the paper so
it will last. Paper now is so acidic none of it will last 100 years without treatment. This used
to cost several hundred dollars per book and there's some question of it efficacy but throw in
the gold foil and you could have yourself a right dandy library for less than $500 per. Some of
these books will be very rare in a hundred years so it has major investment potential as well.
Surely Longacre IV will be duly impressed and thankful if you've failed to secure access to the
fountain of youth in a timely manner.
I'd certainly recommend a complete coin library. I can understand avoiding softcovers but most
can be accessed electronically or uploaded to the cloud. (You know, the one with a silver lining)
Good luck with whatever you decide. If Consuela can't keep up the dusting with her current staff
you can just allot her a little more to take on the help.
Just let me know if there's anything I can do to help.
Have computer, don't travel.
only first and preferably signed by the author.
Get with it Mr. L.
bob
Make sure to please Mrs. L, She along with any children the two of you
might have are your only treasures. Best wishes!!
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
No quick answer here. Building a truly useful numismatic library with bindings which befit the Longacre messuage is no small task.
Perhaps the master of the house could ban Mrs L from said room?
As for Consuela, a truly great numismatic library requires that a dedicated curator be added to the household staff.
Numismatic Art In America; Aesthetics of the United States Coinage, 2nd edition,
Cornelius Vermeule, Whitman Publishing, LLC, 2007. It is a hardcover volume.
If you want some early 1900's volumes I would get Roger Burdett's Renaissance of American Coinage series. all hardcover volumes.
..... by John W. Dannreuther and Harry W. Bass Jr.
should be in every library.
<< <i>Alas, the complete hardbound set of QDB catalogs from B&M in the Coinosaurus library is not for sale.
No quick answer here. Building a truly useful numismatic library with bindings which befit the Longacre messuage is no small task.
Perhaps the master of the house could ban Mrs L from said room?
As for Consuela, a truly great numismatic library requires that a dedicated curator be added to the household staff. >>
Spoken like only the Coinosaurus can.
Didn't wanna get me no trade
Never want to be like papa
Working for the boss every night and day
--"Happy", by the Rolling Stones (1972)
I would do a mix of old and new books! My library is done that way...
Anything by QDB is going to be good!
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