FORVM`s Classical Numismatics Discussion Board
Numismatic and History Discussion Forums => Classical Numismatics Books and References Discussion Forum => Topic started by: SC on April 11, 2021, 02:48:05 pm
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Heads up to forum members.
My long term book project is finally coming to fruition. Spink has just finished typesetting "A Handbook of Late Roman Bronze Coin Types, 324 - 395". It will soon go to printing in Malta.
It currently has a publication date of June 1 for UK booksellers and August 2 in North America. I am not sure if that is a true difference or not as the UK date was recently moved up from August to June.
The book is hardcover, octavo-sized (216mm x 138mm), full colour, and approx. 346 pages.
The standard descriptive blurb is as follows:
Extensively illustrated, each entry includes details on dates, mints, personalities, weight standard, important variations, and the history and meaning of the legend and design. Detailed information about the late Roman bronze coinage system. Extensive introductory notes in Chapter One discuss the life-cycle of late Roman bronze coins (manufacture, circulation, loss and the effects of burial) as well as their weight, fineness standards and contemporary value.
The introductory sections of the subsequent chapters, each of which is dedicated to a short time period, cover the history of that period and the metrology (weight, size and metallic composition), overall pattern, and mint and field marks of the coinage of those years. First detailed examination of the coinage of this period by reverse design. By examining late Roman bronze coinage through the study of reverse types, this book provides different insights from those gained through an examination of the coinage by Mint (as found in The Roman Imperial Coinage series) or by emperor (as found in the Roman Coins and their Values series). Many major numismatic works covering this time period are out of date.
This Handbook incorporates the latest numismatic scholarship and includes extensive footnotes and bibliography. The easy to use (indexed and cross-referenced) catalogue entries will be of interest to collectors, cataloguers and researchers. The historical and metrological discussions will appeal to scholars, numismatists and students. A focus on reverse types provides scholars working with hoards or site finds with much greater insight into dates and other aspects of the coinage than simply identifying the emperor.
Publisher: Spink & Son Ltd
ISBN: 9781912667611
It is currently on the website of amazon and all major booksellers.
Shawn
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Congratulations! That must have been a huge amount of work!
I'm curious about the process of publishing with Spink...
Who foots the up-front costs of publishing - you or Spink ? Do you start making royalties on 1st sale, or only after a certain number have sold ?
What there any choice of format: size, hard/soft cover, any limitations on number of color photos ?
Did you need to get permission to use any photos ? If so, how easy was that ?
DId Spink give you any ballpark expectations for sales volume ?
Ben
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Ben,
Thanks for the comments.
Spink does both types of publishing. Mine is a standard book project. I put no money in and get a small cut of after-cost profits. Not a project I undertook to get rich. But I know Spink has done some projects where they weren't interested themselves, but the author wanted to pay the costs. For example, a couple of books by another author several years back on slightly obscure Canadian coinage.
Spink came up with the format (and cover) based on their interests. This matches the size and hardcover of the Sear books, but unlike them is color interior so it is more like their Coins of England series.
I got permission to use photos from many dealers and auction houses. I have been working on this project since 2009 and I think some dealers are no longer even active. Most were happy as long as I gave them credit. Mine has several hundred images and so the credit is not by photo but I list all sources in the from section.
No idea of volume.
SC
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Interesting - thanks, Shawn.
Ben
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I'll have to get a signed version, Shawn! ;D
Congratulations on this accomplishment!
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Congrats!
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Congratulations, Shawn! I can't wait to get a copy.
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Congratulations Shawn. I will be getting a copy.
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Dear Shawn and Board,
Wow, this is amazing... Was this a more or less undercover project or did you hint here before that you were undertaking something this gargantuan? Huh. I am deeply impressed!
It is nice to see so many long-term numismatic (or numismatic-related) projects either coming together or hot off the presses recently. I have some that are just as old or older than yours, Shawn, but for most of them, I don't know when they will ever get done, considering how much attention and time is being sapped by other matters currently (including the endless farm work). We'll see...
I have a mini collection of Gratian seated Roma bronzes that I started some years back, so your book is tempting to me right now.
Best regards,
Mark Fox
Michigan
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Thanks for the compliments guys.
The book began way back as my own compilation of notes on each coin type as no single source addressed the issues I was interested. By 2009 already I had thought of doing it as a book.
I think several years ago (2016?), in one of our more chatty threads, I mentioned my new year's resolution was to complete the project. I actually completed the book in early 2017. One US publisher looked at it but wasn't interested in the end.
Instead of self-publishing I kept looking - slowly. I was able to meet with Spink early last year and it was accepted about a year ago. But it's place in the cue is just coming up now. I have done minor updating to my '17 version.
SC
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Congratulations, Shawn!
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Very impressive! I look forward to getting a copy.
What do you do for an encore? A sequel, perhaps?
Cheers!
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Hi Shawn,
Congratulation +++
I'll see how I can get it ...
Regards
Joe
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Congrats on a great achievement.
ATB,
Aidan.
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That is quite an accomplishment, Shawn. Congratulations! I look forward to the release of the book. Stkp
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Amazing achievement! I can't wait to get my hands on one! :)
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Just ordered my copy
Alain from Italy
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Wow. Nice to know.
I just signed off on the printer's proof yesterday so hopefully they begin printing soon. Due to be released in UK around June 1st. They give a date of August 1st for North America to allow for shipping/stocking.
Shawn
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Will you have signed copies to sell personally?
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I wasn't planning too as that would add extra shipping steps for people.
SC
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I wasn't planning too as that would add extra shipping steps for people.
SC
Man... I'm gonna have to gallery my LRBs now so I can cite your reference. Lol.
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I don't actually provide any new numbering or attribution system. There are enough around with RIC, LRBC, ERIC and Sear. I focus on providing information about each type.
Shawn
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Update:
The book is currently available, at least out of Europe via Spink Books itself, and via Charles Davis Numismatic Books.
For North America amazon appears to be by far the best deal but the ship date is listed as early August.
I am still waiting for my own copy....
SC
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Just preordered and looking forward to it.
Virgil
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Thanks. I received my copies. I am happy with the end product.
SC
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I received my copy yesterday from Amazon UK. I look forward to reading it (I'm a slow reader!).
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Waiting for my copy-Amazon Canada pre-order but should be coming soon.
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The release date in North America is August 9th. That was to allow the books to be shipped from UK to the distributors. That should mean that shipping will be quite quick after the 9th.
SC
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The release date in North America is August 9th. That was to allow the books to be shipped from UK to the distributors. That should mean that shipping will be quite quick after the 9th.
SC
Gotten any reviews of the book yet? Hopefully it is well received by all :)
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Just ordered!
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No formal reviews yet.
Spink said it did well and got favorable comments at the London Coin Fair.
SC
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No formal reviews yet.
Spink said it did well and got favorable comments at the London Coin Fair.
SC
Well that sounds really promising then! I can't wait to give it a read myself.
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I reread the book, and found Table of Contents needing
this Appendix:
Appendix to table of contents
Weight and fineness chart 46
Mint and field marks ch.2 58
Mint and field marks ch.3 94
Mint and field marks ch.4 135
Denominations 155
Mint and field marks ch.5a 168
Mint and field marks ch.5b 195
Mint and field marks ch.6 221
Mint and field marks ch.7 246
Mint and field marks ch.8 263
Mint and field marks ch.9 299
Pekka K
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Thanks Pekka. Good idea.
It was just reviewed in German by Manfred Freund, in Müzenrevue 9/2021.
Sort but positive.
SC
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Thanks Pekka. Good idea.
It was just reviewed in German by Manfred Freund, in Müzenrevue 9/2021.
Sort but positive.
SC
Did it get printed in more than one language?
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Just German. But with google and my German it was easy to understand.
SC
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Just German. But with google and my German it was easy to understand.
SC
No, I meant if your book was published in multiple languages?
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Oh.
No.
Just my attempt at English.
SC
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I pre-ordered this on the US Amazon site and just checked my order because it should have arrived based on the original release date. It seems like release date has been pushed out until the end of October. Anyone know if it is available in the US prior to this new October date? I can wait, but I would also cancel Amazon and order from somewhere else if I could get it faster.
Thanks,
Virgil
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Delays with the North American distributer apparently. Not sure why such a late date though.
It is already available in North America through Charles Davis books and direct from Spink in London.
Amazon is cheaper, but I suspect that is related to their business model and thus the delays.
SC
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My experience is that Charles Davis does a good job in packaging books for shipping, while Amazon does not.
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Thanks for the info, I would always rather do business with a company other than Amazon, so will check out Charles Davis.
Virgil
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I received my copy +++
Alain - Italy
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Heads up everyone. Shawn's book is now in stock with Amazon ( 4 copies it says today ).
I received my copy today from Amazon.ca via the Avenel New Jersey warehouse.
Some of you may have been waiting to order until it actually showed up in stock, so.....
BTW.... why does British publishers insist on using such small fonts? So hard on my old eyes.....
Gary
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I finally gave up on Amazon and got it a couple months ago from a numismatic bookseller. in the US. I should have given them the business from the start. I didn't appreciate how Amazon played around with how they listed this book and have seen them lie on other recently published books, most of which had nothing to do with coins. And they were lying for a few months on this one. I have stopped buying anything through Amazon unless there is no other option for a number of reasons that include lying about their stock, but it goes far beyond that. It is a great book, but I do agree on the British coin publishers and their quirks that seem to be widespread in various ways in coin topic publishing. Copy editing seems to be lacking in coin collecting books, for example. Not a huge deal, but I notice typos having been an editor in the past. I need to do a real review on Shawn's book, it truly is a great book and highly recommended for anyone interested in late Roman coins.
Virgil
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We'd be happy to publish your review in Koinon.
Nick
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Gary. The font is hard on my eyes too - and I chose it. Though it does match the Sear's books.
Sadly, the only other option, with a normal font size, was to have a book the size of RICII.3 (Hadrian) with the resultant price being over double what it currently is.
SC
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I haven't got a copy yet. What is the font size? 10?
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Congratulations Shawn. I will have to buy one!
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Thanks Joe.
And yes, Ron it is 10.
SC
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Just got mine today, looking forward to reading it.
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Finally got my copy today (you’ll see my initial order was announced above in JULY coming from Amazon!).
It looks great, Shawn. Well done!!!
Have you entered the postpartum phase?
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Hi Nick,
If this was addressed to me and I think it was, I just sent you a PM. I mention it here because I don't always know when I get a PM.
Regards,
Virgil
We'd be happy to publish your review in Koinon.
Nick