Numismatic Literature: #1 Book for Beginners? (Roman Imperial)

[Alegandron]

Since I enjoy the Roman Republic's history so much, my first Ancients book was Sear / Spink "Roman Coins and their Values" Vol. 1.  It is still my go-to that I refer the most.  I added Vol II, and, of course, several other books.

 

[dougsmit]

I agree there is a lot of interest and value in having many of the books mentioned here and I learned a lot from the ones I had.  Of course along the way I got a few dozen books that were not worth the paper they were printed on let alone the postage to pollute the minds of others who might actually believe some of their since updated statements.  I still believe that there are enough really well done pages online that will help beginners for free but people tend to believe that nothing free can be worth having.  I am no fan of any catalog on coins that does nothing more than provide catalog numbers.  RIC, IMHO, would make a valuable reference if they issued only the non-catalog chapter heads all in one book that could have sold for the price of one of the regular volumes.  In general, beginners are looking for something that summarizes everything ever known about every coin in a slim volume that costs nothing.  There is no Red Book of ancient coins.  I have opinions on some books but those were posted on my web page back when it was new so it includes books like Vagi that have gotten harder to find at a reasonable price.  That page is still there. 

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/book.html

 

[Valentinian]

I have been collecting ancient coins for 50 years and bought the books. As you know, I have written many web pages on ancient coins:
http://augustuscoins.com/ed/
which are intended to help potential collectors get interested and to help anyone who already has an interest in ancient coins to learn more. So, I have had a role in making the web a resource. Nevertheless, books remain essential to getting past the rank-beginner stage. As others have noted above, you can look up ID numbers on the web and some beginners' books don't add much to what can be learned on the web.

Here I  recommend some well written books that will add a lot to your knowledge and enjoyment of ancient coins in a way that the web cannot. This list takes into account their cost. I am not recommending expensive books (except for one). Every one of these I still find worth opening and reading. 

For Roman:       
   Coinage in the Roman World by Andrew Burnett is packed with information from one the world's top scholars (and, former Curator of the British Museum collection). In summary form, it incorporates all of the most recent scholarship on Roman coinage from its beginnings to the end of the empire. It has chapters on mint authority, monetary history, designs and propaganda, circulation and function, inflation, the coming of Christianity, and the transition to medieval coinage. It is only 168 pages plus plates of 187 coins, but a super book. This would be my top recommendation.

For Greek:  
    Coinage in the Greek World by Ian Carradice and Martin Price (1998), is an excellent work, very well suited to beginners and advanced collectors alike.  Written by two top scholars, it is completely authoritative. Nevertheless, it is completely user-friendly. It is not a "How to collect" guide, but a chronologically organized well-illustrated discussion of ancient Greek coins. This is an outstandingly good book. If you are thinking of collecting Greek coins, buy this book. It is easy to start with, but, no matter how far you advance, you will never outgrow it.

For Roman Provincial:
  Roman Provincial Coins: An Introduction to the Greek Imperials, by Kevin Butcher, is an excellent introduction with a great deal of "meat". It can be read again and again. A slim book, it has excellent photographs of 95 coins and 258 line drawings of coins. It has many maps so you can tell where all those cities are. I must have already read it 8 times, and scanned it many more, and I still like it. If you might be interested in Roman Provincial coins, buy this book.

For Byzantine: 
   David Sear, Byzantine Coins and their Values is essential.
   Philip Grierson, Byzantine Coins has all the scholarly information you could want plus 1527 good B&W photos of most of the types. I use it frequently.
   P. D. Whitting, Byzantine Coins, is fun and chatty with lots of beautiful enlarged photos and good discussions.

For Roman Republican at a level above beginner:
   Liv Mariah Yarrow, The Roman Republic to 49 BC using coins as sources  and
   Clare Rowan From Caesar to Augustus (c. 49 BC - AD 14) using coins as sources

For Greek: 
   G. K. Jenkins Ancient Greek Coins, first edition Putnam Press (not the second edition Seaby Press). A beautiful book with lots of great pictures and good discussion. [This book changed more, and not for the better, between the first and second editions than any other book I have heard of. It went down from 320 pages to 182 pages!]

For Roman:  
   Roman Coins, by C. H. V. Sutherland, is a beautiful book by a major scholar. It has 572 excellent enlargements and even color plates of coins. There is little emphasis on common late Roman coins. He was a major contributor to our knowledge of the early imperial coins, and it shows in his choice of material. It is not a list of coins, rather a history of Roman coinage.

General: 
   Christopher Howgego, Ancient History from Coins, is packed with information about ancient Greek and Roman coins and how they relate to history. Howgego is a leading scholar and crams a ton of information into not very many pages (176 pages with 184 coins photographed beautifully). His extensive footnotes lead you to the publications that discuss matters in greater detail. This book is "over the head" of novices, but can be read many times with increasing comprehension. If you want to glimpse the scholarly side of ancient coins, this is a great way to do it.

There are many more good books that can add to your knowledge and enjoyment in ways the internet cannot, but, in your collecting area, these would be a good start. 

Here is a web page with some additional book reviews:  http://augustuscoins.com/ed/numis/learnmore.html

I remark that university libraries usually have some books on ancient coins and even some public libraries do too. The odds are very good they will not be checked out!


 

[Etcherdude]

I second your recommendations for Republican Rome @Valentinian, the Cambridge Guides to the Coinage of the Ancient World are wonderful.

[jfp7375]

On 6/6/2022 at 11:15 PM, Octavius said:

I love "A History of the Coinage of the Roman Empire" by David Vagi. It is in two volumes, the first of which is a detailed history of each emperor. The second volume concerns their coins. I feel it is the historical aspect of this hobby that enriches the numismatic component so much. Vagi's work is just packed with historical content which allows you to appreciate the coins so much more.

 

On 6/6/2022 at 11:28 PM, Constantivs said:

I would agree - but I haven't seen a used set for under $200 USD lately.

 

On 6/13/2022 at 2:59 PM, dougsmit said:

I agree there is a lot of interest and value in having many of the books mentioned here and I learned a lot from the ones I had.  Of course along the way I got a few dozen books that were not worth the paper they were printed on let alone the postage to pollute the minds of others who might actually believe some of their since updated statements.  I still believe that there are enough really well done pages online that will help beginners for free but people tend to believe that nothing free can be worth having.  I am no fan of any catalog on coins that does nothing more than provide catalog numbers.  RIC, IMHO, would make a valuable reference if they issued only the non-catalog chapter heads all in one book that could have sold for the price of one of the regular volumes.  In general, beginners are looking for something that summarizes everything ever known about every coin in a slim volume that costs nothing.  There is no Red Book of ancient coins.  I have opinions on some books but those were posted on my web page back when it was new so it includes books like Vagi that have gotten harder to find at a reasonable price.  That page is still there. 

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/book.html

 

On a scale of 1-10 how good is Vagi's set? 

I got "Coinage in the Roman World" by Burnett and am really loving it... kind of craving another more comprehensive reference for emperor history and coinage, and I'm finding that really gets me excited about certain coins. 

Snooped around really hard and I think I can get a Vagi set for about $120

[dougsmit]

22 hours ago, jfp7375 said:

Snooped around really hard and I think I can get a Vagi set for about $120

The Vagi History volume is excellent.  I believe he shot himself in the foot making the Coinage volume more different than people could accept.  He lumped most of the common coin together and listed separately prices for types that were rarely seen so people were turned off not finding the coins they owned so much of the time.  I see how the idea had merit but I also see how it was an idea that did not sell all that well.  $120 is reasonable for a set that is often split up and sold separately for more. 

 

My review

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/book.html#vagi

Edited June 23, 2022 by dougsmit