For fans of
Roman coins (and coin book nuts), I'm both happy and a little nervous to report that I have begun
work on the third revision of the
Encyclopedia of Roman Imperial Coins.
The first
ERIC was published eight years ago this month and was intended as a modern intro into the hobby. Its
success (having eventually made the top ten list of most sought after out-of-print books in the U.S.) led to a chunky tome in
ERIC II whose overarching goal was to list more or less the entire Roman Imperial and
Byzantine corpus into one tidy square. Now after a couple of years worth of working on
side projects and toying with my angle of attack, I think I'm now ready to sink my teeth into
ERIC III.
After having collected hundreds of comments from the users I now think I have a fairly clear picture what it would take to make the "ultimate" Roman coin reference guide. The photography in the plates can be enlarged, upgraded with better specimens and more of the gaps filled all while boosting print resolution. Notes of numismatic interest and ancillary economic data can be added. The biographies can be expanded and the pricing data can be more sensitive and granular.
But the heart and business end of the book is its
catalog. While
ERIC II may have reached its goal of being comprehensive, I believe
ERIC III's
success depends on it being truly exhaustive. This is the
area where I'll dedicate most of my efforts. I'm aiming to draw on a pool of no less than half a million coins - and probably as many as a million - and each carefully catalogued and referenced. That's why I'm a
bit nervous, this is a
staggering amount of data to sift through and I'm pretty well aware that it will take me several years of fulltime
work to accomplish.
But boy if I'm successful we're gonna have one hell of a piece of
work!
Please become involved. Send me your suggestions, your complaints and definitely all your "not-in-RICs". It's a lot easier to
work in major changes near the beginning than halfway through.
Ras
rasiel at dirtyoldbooks.com
