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ON THE ADAMS U.S. AUCTION CATALOGS BOOK REPRINT

The E-Sylum (7/26/2009)


Book Content

Regarding John Adams' United States Numismatic Literature Volume I, Nineteenth Century Auction Catalogs, last week Robert Rightmire asked:
I have Volume II and recently bought the 2001 reprint of Volume I, but it turns out the bindings are different. Does anyone know why?


Adams Auction Catalogs Vol 1 Adams Auction Catalogs Vol 1 2001


Publisher George Kolbe explains:
The 2001 Adams reprint was specifically intended to provide a low cost alternative to the original 1982 edition of United States Numismatic Literature. Volume I: Nineteenth Century Auction Catalogues. The reprint was produced by a Michigan firm specializing in good quality low cost production-line book printing and mechanized binding.

The original was printed in two colors throughout on the best acid-free paper available at the time (i.e., expensive at a time when most books were printed on acid stock), and it was bound by hand by Kater-Crafts in Pico Rivera, California.

Typesetting and two-color trapping costs were substantial (remember, computer typesetting and formatting were in their infancy if available at all). Other factors were the substantial cost involved in commissioning twenty-one original drawings for the book and the oversize format.


To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see: QUERY: ADAMS U.S. AUCTION CATALOGS REPRINT (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v12n29a07.html)

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