| Description |
Including Articles by Jefferson & Paine On the Mint and Coinage Vols. 4, 8, and 10 (Philadelphia, July-Dec. 1788; July-Dec. 1790; and July-Dec. 1791). Bound in three volumes. Small 8vo, original full brown calf; spines with five raised bands, decorated in gilt; red and black lettering pieces, gilt. 592 + 288, 40, 80, 20, 52, 89, (1) + 308, 36, 48, 44 pages [final pagination of Vol. 8 consists of J.P. Vrissot de Warville's 1788 Critical Examination of the Marquis de Chatellux's Travels, in North America...]. Bindings very worn, with spines spilt and boards loose. Good. An important early American periodical that merited the contributions of luminaries such as Thomas Jefferson, whose 1790 Report of the Secretary of State, on the Subject of Establishing a Uniformity in the Weights, Measures and Coins of the United States, is printed on pages 35-46 of the 1790 volume. This is the foundational document behind United States coinage and is widely considered the most important document written by Jefferson as Secretary of State under Washington. Jefferson was an early proponent of the decimal system, stating that it would bring "the calculation of the principal affairs of life within the arithmetic of every man, who can multiply and divide plain numbers," though he was cautious against pressing Congress to adopt more than the decimal plan for coinage for the time being. The 1791 volume includes Thomas Paine's Thoughts on the Establishment of a Mint in the United States (pages 216-220), though a small piece of the upper margin of one of the leaves is missing, affecting three lines of type. Paine's article is highly interesting, not least for what it misjudges about the coinage. Of copper as a proposed metal, he writes, "This metal is of too little value, and of too much bulk, to answer the purposes of coins to any great extent; about ten or twenty thousand dollars worth of copper coin is, I believe, as much as can be circulated in America." Rare and important. Estimate $1,200. Ex: Eric P. Newman Numismatic Education Society.
Heritage Auctions 11/2018 (Newman XI), lot15167 (realized $1080).
Heritage link: http://www.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=1283&lotIdNo=11328 |
