Crosby, Sylvester Sage. The Early Coins of America; and the Laws Governing Their Issue. Comprising also Descriptions of the Washington Pieces, the Anglo-American Tokens, Many Pieces of Unknown Origin of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries and the First Patterns of the United States Mint. Boston. Estes & Lauriat. 1878. Fine.Quarto. Hardbound in brown half morocco, with maroon cloth sides. The borders of the leather with double-ruled gilt accents. Five raised gilt bands divide the spine into six panels, the second bearing the title in gilt, the fourth with the author in gilt, and the others with central gilt ornaments. Marbled pastedowns and flyleaves, with maroon cloth supports inside both cover joints. A slight separation is noted at the top inside the front flyleaf joint, but it does not seem too threatening. Marbled page ends on three sides. Notable wear and nicks in the cover edges, but internally quite clean and solid except where previously noted. More than 100 woodcut illustrations, 10 heliotype plates and the usual two heliotype foldouts, as in the 1875 editions. Whereas the earlier edition was published by Sylvester Crosby himself, this edition bears the imprint of Estes & Lauriat, Boston. According to Eric Newman, there were just three changes between the 1875 and 1878 editions, two being the identity of the publisher and date. The third was the removal of “AE” from the title page line drawing of the Massachusetts state copper. He estimated that perhaps only ten percent of the known surviving “original” Crosbys of 1875 and 1878 are the latter edition, offered here.From the D. Brent Pogue Library.
