Classical Numismatics Discussion
  Welcome Guest. Please login or register. 10% Off Store-Wide Sale Until 2 April!!! Explore Our Website And Find Joy In The History, Numismatics, Art, Mythology, And Geography Of Coins!!! Expert Authentication - Accurate Descriptions - Reasonable Prices - Coins From Under $10 To Museum Quality Rarities Welcome Guest. Please login or register. 10% Off Store-Wide Sale Until 2 April!!! Explore Our Website And Find Joy In The History, Numismatics, Art, Mythology, And Geography Of Coins!!! Support Our Efforts To Serve The Classical Numismatics Community - Shop At Forum Ancient Coins

New & Reduced


Author Topic: Which printing is best?  (Read 3335 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Octopus Grabus

  • Legionary
  • *
  • Posts: 13
Which printing is best?
« on: July 07, 2012, 06:13:58 pm »
As I've been searching for which books to buy, I noticed that some have more than one printing (Sear, for example).  Does it behoove me to seek out the latest printing, or would an earlier one be just as good?  Is the information updated in the newer printings,  or are they just straight reissues?

Offline Danny S. Jones

  • Procurator Caesaris
  • Caesar
  • ****
  • Posts: 980
  • Danny Jones
    • FORVM Library of Ancient Coinage
Re: Which printing is best?
« Reply #1 on: July 08, 2012, 11:52:05 am »
New research and finds listed in newer edition books will give more information on coins than their older counterparts. The RIC (Roman Imperial Coins) reference works, for example, give rarity ratings that are sometimes decades old and outdated, from before the Iron Curtain fell, and millions of previously unknown Roman coins were "discovered" by the western nations. Hendin's Guide to Biblical Coins, 5th ed. has a plethora of information that was discovered after the 4th ed. However, I'm not saying that old coin reference works are useless by any stretch of the imagination. You might want to start by searching some that you can get for free:

Click on my link below to access the Library of Ancient Coinage.

Offline Mark Z

  • Caesar
  • ****
  • Posts: 2265
  • Sit Julius Caesar quod vos es non.
Re: Which printing is best?
« Reply #2 on: July 08, 2012, 12:07:04 pm »
Danny,

Excellent link and references.

I had no idea this existed.

Thank you for that!

mz

Offline Andrew McCabe

  • Tribunus Plebis Perpetuus
  • Procurator Monetae
  • Caesar
  • *****
  • Posts: 4651
    • My website on Roman Republican Coins and Books, with 2000 coins arranged per Crawford
Re: Which printing is best?
« Reply #3 on: July 08, 2012, 12:16:00 pm »
Quote from: Octopus Grabus on July 07, 2012, 06:13:58 pm
As I've been searching for which books to buy, I noticed that some have more than one printing (Sear, for example).  Does it behoove me to seek out the latest printing, or would an earlier one be just as good?  Is the information updated in the newer printings,  or are they just straight reissues?

On Sear: the information has sometimes been updated in each issue, and sometimes only the prices have been updated (and as old prices are out of date anyway, it then hardly makes a difference which old version you get). As you travel back further in time (1970s - 1960s) some editions have line drawings plus plates, some have line drawings, and some have in-text photos. This doesn't sound very helpful, but I can give a more helpful answer if you let me know which handbook you are seeking
- Sear Roman Silver Coins (5 volumes, from 1950 onwards)
- Sear Roman Coins and their Values (single volume from 1950 to 1988, or multiple volumes from 1999 onwards which is called the Millenium edition)
- Sear Greek Coins and their Values
- Sear History and Coinage of the Roman Imperators (HCRI, just one edition, but reprinted).

Tell us what you are seeking and we can give an idea of the difference between editions.

NB, David Sear only wrote HCRI and the Millenium Edition of RCV. He did NOT write all the other handbooks. The other handbooks were written by H.A. Seaby from 1950 onwards; Sear edited later editions but the texts are those of H.A. Seaby.

Offline Octopus Grabus

  • Legionary
  • *
  • Posts: 13
Re: Which printing is best?
« Reply #4 on: July 08, 2012, 12:22:43 pm »
Click on my link below to access the Library of Ancient Coinage.

Outstanding!  Thanks so much for pointing that out

Offline Octopus Grabus

  • Legionary
  • *
  • Posts: 13
Re: Which printing is best?
« Reply #5 on: July 08, 2012, 12:45:26 pm »
Tell us what you are seeking and we can give an idea of the difference between editions.

Thank you for clarifying that.  I'm looking for books/references on Ancient Greek and Roman Provincial & Imperial coins.  I'm not looking to focus on anything specific with regards to Greek coins, just ones that appeal to me for one reason or another.  For the Roman coins, I'm interested in coins relating to the Bible and the Jesus/Christian movement up to and including Constantine.  I have Hendin's book for the Judaean coins and will probably buy Meshorer's soon - so I have that covered.  Any help as to what other books, Sear or otherwise, I should get would be greatly appreciated

Offline Andrew McCabe

  • Tribunus Plebis Perpetuus
  • Procurator Monetae
  • Caesar
  • *****
  • Posts: 4651
    • My website on Roman Republican Coins and Books, with 2000 coins arranged per Crawford
Re: Which printing is best?
« Reply #6 on: July 08, 2012, 12:52:45 pm »
Quote from: Octopus Grabus on July 08, 2012, 12:45:26 pm
Thank you for clarifying that.  I'm looking for books/references on Ancient Greek and Roman Provincial & Imperial coins.  I'm not looking to focus on anything specific with regards to Greek coins, just ones that appeal to me for one reason or another.  For the Roman coins, I'm interested in coins relating to the Bible and the Jesus/Christian movement up to and including Constantine.  I have Hendin's book for the Judaean coins and will probably buy Meshorer's soon - so I have that covered.  Any help as to what other books, Sear or otherwise, I should get would be greatly appreciated

Clear! but I'll leave to another to advise you as Greek, Provincial and Biblical coins are outside my areas of knowledge! Hopefully someone can give some tips, pros and cons.

Offline Molinari

  • Tribunus Plebis Perpetuus
  • Procurator Monetae
  • Caesar
  • *****
  • Posts: 4549
  • My defeat, if understood, should be my glory
Re: Which printing is best?
« Reply #7 on: July 08, 2012, 01:39:55 pm »
Sear's Greek Coins and Their Values Vol. I & II i consider a must own for those interested in Greek coinsHis Greek Imerial Coins and Their Values is good too but since I don't collect Greek Imperial coins I can't comment further.

I also can't recommend highly enough H. C. Lindgren's Ancient Bronze Coins (three volumes, the first written with Kovacs), with slight variations on the titles, but covering his entire collection of Greek and Greek Imperial coins.

Finally, a recent series is Oliver Hoover's Handbook of Greek Coinage.  Five have been published so far (by CNG) and there are another 6 or 7 or so on the way, aimed at covering the entire spectrum of ancient Greek coinage.  I love what has been printed so far.

These are mostly general books so if you're interested in more specific areas of the Greek world the recommendations would be different.

As for your question about which edition,I'd say to get the most recent unless cost is a very significant factor.

Hope this helps,

Nick

Offline Octopus Grabus

  • Legionary
  • *
  • Posts: 13
Re: Which printing is best?
« Reply #8 on: July 08, 2012, 02:13:28 pm »
Very helpful, thank you. 

Offline iwaniw

  • Procurator Monetae
  • Caesar
  • *****
  • Posts: 673
Re: Which printing is best?
« Reply #9 on: July 08, 2012, 09:10:33 pm »
With standard reference books that continue to be reprinted unchanged, the first printing generally has superior coin plates. For that reason alone, they are often more in demand.

Iwaniw

Offline Danny S. Jones

  • Procurator Caesaris
  • Caesar
  • ****
  • Posts: 980
  • Danny Jones
    • FORVM Library of Ancient Coinage
Re: Which printing is best?
« Reply #10 on: July 09, 2012, 12:32:36 am »
Excellent link and references.

I had no idea this existed.

If you are like me, you would much rather hold an actual book in hand than view a PDF file or read a Kindle. However, as Andreas has pointed out in another post a while back, as a new collector, you might want to research the free references online as well as the many websites available before spending all your collecting money on books. There is a wealth of information online that is up to date, much of which is not found in print. You could save a lot of money for buying coins once you've found an area of interest.

Regards,
Danny

Offline Andrew McCabe

  • Tribunus Plebis Perpetuus
  • Procurator Monetae
  • Caesar
  • *****
  • Posts: 4651
    • My website on Roman Republican Coins and Books, with 2000 coins arranged per Crawford
Re: Which printing is best?
« Reply #11 on: July 09, 2012, 05:43:51 am »
There is a wealth of information online that is up to date, much of which is not found in print.

The reverse is also true. There is a wealth of information, in print, that is not available anywhere on the web or in any electronic format. I would think the online format information represents maybe 10%, the rest, particularly deep knowledge (90% of the images, 90% of the texts), you can only get if you pay for it. This is only fair. Just as one expects to have to pay for films or music, you have to pay for numismatic knowledge, in order to support its publication. So, you will probably have to buy a (or several) books if you really want to improve your knowledge.

NB Please don't support the illegal copies of in-print numismatic books sometime sold on ebay; it's already very tough to get academic numismatic texts published (subsidies are invariably required); pirate copying results in new work not being published at all.

Offline Octopus Grabus

  • Legionary
  • *
  • Posts: 13
Re: Which printing is best?
« Reply #12 on: July 09, 2012, 10:34:14 am »
NB Please don't support the illegal copies of in-print numismatic books sometime sold on ebay; it's already very tough to get academic numismatic texts published (subsidies are invariably required); pirate copying results in new work not being published at all.

Sorry, is this meant for me?  I'm not sure who "NB" is.  If so, rest assured that I'd never, nor have I ever, download anything from a torrent site.

Offline benito

  • Deceased Member
  • Caesar
  • ****
  • Posts: 2635
  • quousque tandem abutere Sadigh pecunia nostra
Re: Which printing is best?
« Reply #13 on: July 09, 2012, 10:48:53 am »
Quote from: Octopus Grabus on July 09, 2012, 10:34:14 am
NB Please don't support the illegal copies of in-print numismatic books sometime sold on ebay; it's already very tough to get academic numismatic texts published (subsidies are invariably required); pirate copying results in new work not being published at all.

Sorry, is this meant for me?  I'm not sure who "NB" is.  If so, rest assured that I'd never, nor have I ever, download anything from a torrent site.

NB is NOTA BENE or NOTATE BENE.

Offline curtislclay

  • Tribunus Plebis Perpetuus
  • Procurator Monetae
  • Caesar
  • *****
  • Posts: 11155
Re: Which printing is best?
« Reply #14 on: July 09, 2012, 11:08:31 am »
Latin for "Take good notice".

What is a "torrent" site, however?
Curtis Clay

Offline Danny S. Jones

  • Procurator Caesaris
  • Caesar
  • ****
  • Posts: 980
  • Danny Jones
    • FORVM Library of Ancient Coinage
Re: Which printing is best?
« Reply #15 on: July 09, 2012, 12:12:10 pm »
From Wikipedia:
Torrents are a peer-to-peer file sharing protocol used to download files over the internet. Many websites are using them now to distribute large packets of information. There apparently are some of these sites that are now being investigated for distributing copyrighted files such as music, videos and software, but because torrents are decentralized, and share over a vast network of thousands of computers without the use of a central hub, they are difficult if not impossible to track.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I just don't see the hacker and piracy crowd being interested in distributing numismatic literature.

Offline Andrew McCabe

  • Tribunus Plebis Perpetuus
  • Procurator Monetae
  • Caesar
  • *****
  • Posts: 4651
    • My website on Roman Republican Coins and Books, with 2000 coins arranged per Crawford
Re: Which printing is best?
« Reply #16 on: July 09, 2012, 02:36:22 pm »
Quote from: Octopus Grabus on July 09, 2012, 02:14:41 pm

Maybe I'm wrong, but I just don't see the hacker and piracy crowd being interested in distributing numismatic literature.

You'd be surprised what pops if you do a search

Please do not download these. Buy them, and once you've bought, feel free to keep a second copy on your computer. There are only two publishers in the world of "ancient numismatic books" rather than short papers intended to bolster academic careers but of no general use to coin collectors. They are Spink and CNG. I know for sure that for one of these companies it is an unprofitable enterprise, supported as a goodwill gesture related to their coin shop, and for the other it only makes sense due to a good back catalogue of best-sellers which subsidise the real academic texts. Every download pushes one or both to the edge of not publishing at all. With no reference handbooks there will be no coin collecting.

Because Octopus Grabus' no doubt well-meaning post links to stolen numismatic goods (i.e. downloads of in-print books). I've taken the liberty to delete the links he provided. I hope the moderators will excuse me. The full text of his post, except for the link is reproduced unaltered above, so there is no loss of content.

Quote from: Octopus Grabus on July 09, 2012, 10:34:14 am
rest assured that I'd never, nor have I ever, download anything from a torrent site.

I understand and applaud. Still, others may not have these high standards so please forgive me for deleting the links to a torrent site which you posted.

As for Danny's comment, Spink have noticed that the sellers of pirated copies of their books generally run multiple 1-day sales which they start always on a Friday evening (after Spink cob for the weekend). One of their employees has taken to checking internet sources Saturday morning's and Sunday morning's to try and capture such sales and report to ebay. It may seem like a small problem, but it will become a big problem if numismatic publishers disappear.

Offline Octopus Grabus

  • Legionary
  • *
  • Posts: 13
Re: Which printing is best?
« Reply #17 on: July 09, 2012, 02:59:40 pm »
I apologize for posting the link.  I did search to see if I was violating an forum rules by doing it, but came up empty. 

Offline Andrew McCabe

  • Tribunus Plebis Perpetuus
  • Procurator Monetae
  • Caesar
  • *****
  • Posts: 4651
    • My website on Roman Republican Coins and Books, with 2000 coins arranged per Crawford
Re: Which printing is best?
« Reply #18 on: July 09, 2012, 03:05:22 pm »
Quote from: Octopus Grabus on July 09, 2012, 02:59:40 pm
I apologize for posting the link.  I did search to see if I was violating an forum rules by doing it, but came up empty. 

Don't worry, and I know your post was well-intended, but the longer the links stayed up, the more revenue the book publishers lose. There may not be a specific forum rule, but I think this is covered under a more general principle of theft-prevention!

Offline crawforde

  • Consul
  • ***
  • Posts: 179
  • Historia est testis temporum, lux veritatis ...
Re: Which printing is best?
« Reply #19 on: July 09, 2012, 07:17:20 pm »
An addendum to Andrew's post regarding NOT DOWNLOADING illegal copies of in print numismatic literature.
Please purchase or request from publishers ebook versions of numismatic reference material when available.
I primarily collect Roman Republican Bronze coins and bull/ horseman Jitals, and for many years my focus was on Chinese, Annamese, and Japanese cast Cash coins. 
They are all entertaining series to collect, and the coins are usually available at reasonable prices, but the reference materials were, and some still are, hard to come by. 
I will still purchase reference materials for series I no longer actively collect if only to keep my attributions up to date.  For example, David Hartill just published an excellent new book on Japanese coins.  I purchased the print and ebook versions on the same day.  The ebook was less than £10.
It cannot help but to support the authors and publishers willing to put out useful reference material.  Even if you are not a specialist in that particular field.  If we do not put our $ where our interests lie these companies will not keep publishing what we need.

 

All coins are guaranteed for eternity