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First Edition of Pye

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:300.00 USD Estimated At:400.00 USD
First Edition of Pye
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Pye, Charles. PROVINCIAL COPPER COINS OR TOKENS, ISSUED BETWEEN THE YEARS 1787 AND 1796, ENGRAVED BY CHARLES PYE, OR BIRMINGHAM FROM THE ORIGINALS IN HIS OWN POSSESSION. London: Published for the Engraver, (1794-95). First edition. 8vo, contemporary full brown polished calf, finely decorated by hand in ink with a bordered vignette on each board, each depicting a different architectural scene; front and back bordered with double gilt fillets with further interior border; spine ruled, lettered and decorated in gilt; boards edges decorated in gilt; contemporary marbled endpapers. Finely engraved title with large vignette by Pye; advertisement leaf; 36 finely engraved plates depicting the obverses and reverses of 186 tokens; iii, (1) page index. Notations in pencil throughout. Several additional cuts and engraved illustrations added to blanks at rear of volume. Binding rebacked, but professionally so. Ink vignettes on covers rubbed, especially at centers. Some light, mostly marginal staining; inked signature of previous owner cut out from title page. Still a handsome copy in an intriguing binding. Very good or better. An attractive original example of this early classic work on eighteenth century English tokens, in a very interesting binding. The plates are far superior to any of those found in other early works on the topic. The plates are dated 1794 and 1795, though the title page gives the span of coverage as including 1796. Manville 230: "Pye was the first cataloguer of eighteenth century tokens to provide extensive authoritative information about die-sinkers, manufacturers, proprietors, quantities, rarity and varieties."