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The Napoleon Medals, Illustrated via Pantographic Ruling Machine

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:130.00 USD Estimated At:200.00 USD
The Napoleon Medals, Illustrated via Pantographic Ruling Machine
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Edwards, Edward [editor]. THE NAPOLEON MEDALS: A COMPLETE SERIES OF THE MEDALS STRUCK IN FRANCE, ITALY, GREAT BRITAIN AND GERMANY, FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE EMPIRE IN 1804, TO THE RESTORATION IN 1815, ENGRAVED BY THE PROCESS OF ACHILLES COLLAS, WITH HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. London: Henry Hering, 1837. Folio, contemporary tan half calf with mottled sides. Frontispiece; x, 167, (1), (2) pages; 40 engraved plates. Some browning and foxing, especially to plates, as usually encountered. Lacking backstrip, with binding slightly loose. Very good or so. The first of what was intended to be a two-volume work, the second half of which never saw publication. This volume covers 1804 to 1810 and is essentially an English edition of the relevant volume of the Trésor de numismatique et de glyptique series (though it was published before the French edition). The engravings are, as with the Trésor volumes, outstanding, and used a new process perfected in France by Achille Collas. The plates were produced with a pantographic ruling machine and, in addition to being of great visual appeal, the illustrations were the most accurate ever achieved. This technical innovation, widely heralded at the time, was, within a few decades, overtaken by photographic printing processes and is relatively little known today. Very scarce (particularly with the supplement, present here, on the British Museum’s holdings) and still important. Engel & Serrure 2412. Leitzmann 37. Sigler 765.