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Frossard's Numisma

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:1,000.00 USD Estimated At:1,500.00 USD
Frossard's Numisma
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Frossard, Ed. [editor]. NUMISMA. Vols. I-IX, complete, with all supplements for the period covered. Irvington, N.Y., January 1877-December 1885. A complete run of the first fifty-four issues (as issued in fifty-three), lacking only the final Vol. 10 for completion. 4to, later red cloth, gilt. One issue bound out of order. Trimmed, but not obtrusively. Near fine. A remarkable publication. Fewer than a dozen complete sets are currently known to be extant, and it is doubtful whether most of those include all of the issued supplements. The first nine volumes were published bimonthly but the final volume (Vol. X) was issued over a five-year period, which, combined with being printed in a modest, self-covered format, helps to explain its rarity. Supplements were issued for the following numbers: Vol. IV, No. 6 (4 pages, and missing from the 1983 reprint); Vol. V, No. 1 (2 pages); Vol. V, No. 4 (2 pages); Vol. VI, No. 2 (2 pages); Vol. VI, No. 6 (4 pages); Vol. VIII, No. 1 (4 pages); Vol. VIII, No. 2 (4 pages); Vol. IX, No. 6 (4 pages); while Vol. X, Nos. 3 and 6 (not present here) were of above-average length, they seem to have been issued in one piece, which may also be true of some of the earlier Supplements. In United States Numismatic Literature, Volume I, John W. Adams wrote: "Frossard opened his own business in 1877 and initiated his own periodical, Numisma. This latter, undoubtedly the most lively publication of its kind, provides us with an intimate glimpse into the hobby as it and its personalities then existed. The editor deals out praise to his friends but doesn't hesitate to flog offending competitors, a list which includes Scott, Proskey (he of the India Rubber conscience), Mason, Steigerwalt, Woodward and the Chapmans, among others." Over a century after publication, Numisma is still a delightful and instructive read. Ex Empire Coin Company Library, to Bowers & Ruddy, to Q. David Bowers, whose initials can be found on the front cover in white ink. Ex Michael Spurlock library.