Foote, H.C. UNIVERSAL COUNTERFEIT AND ALTERED BANK NOTE DETECTOR, AT SIGHT, A SYSTEM OF INFALLIBLE DETECTION AT SIGHTNew York: Oliver & Brother, 1850. Second edition, third thousand. 16mo, original paper-backed green cloth covers, lettered in gilt. (2), 30 pages; 14 woodcut text illustrations of bank note design elements; folding steel-engraved bank note facsimile, produced by J. Clark, of New York, originally tipped in facing the title, now separate and accompanying the work. Some spotting and browning; covers with some discoloration and minor stains; loose plate folded as issued, and wrinkled. Very good.<p>The exceptionally rare second edition-the only edition not in the Eric P. Newman Library. Not present in the ANS Library and lacking from the Fuld, Champa, and Bass Libraries. First published in 1849 in a 20-page edition that did not include the folding engraved plate (the plate in the Newman Librarys copy had been added by a previous owner from a later edition), this is the first edition for which the plate was issued. It would go on to see a third and fourth editions in 1851 and 1853, respectively, and while the text was augmented slightly, the present second edition includes all of the illustrations present in the later editions. The various design elements of the facsimile bank note are keyed to the authors seven rules for counterfeit detection and "contain standard specimens of all the different styles of engraving of the notes of all the Banks in the United States." Interestingly, the plate used to print the engraved facsimile note were, according to a later edition, "sold at auction some years since, and duplicate dies have been made from them and scattered over the country ... and some of them have got into counterfeiters hands... Therefore no pattern like any of these will ever be seen in a genuine note... The plate therefore serves two purposes-1st, illustrating genuine and perfect work; 2d, to guard against genuine auction dies used in counterfeits." To the best of our knowledge, no other copy of this edition has been offered in the numismatic market in the modern era.Ex Heather Hardin-Hudson Collection.
