Exceptional Set of ANS Proceedings & Papers

[American Numismatic Society] American Numismatic & Archæological Society; American Numismatic Society. PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN NUMISMATIC AND ARCHÆOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK... / PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN NUMISMATIC SOCIETY... New York, 1878–1907. A consecutive run of Proceedings from the first one printed as a stand-alone publication (the 20th meeting) through 1907 (the 49th). Finely bound in four volumes. 4to, later matching black half morocco with green pebbled cloth sides; spine with four raised bands, ruled and decorated in gilt; marbled endpapers; top page edges gilt; original printed paper or card covers bound in. Approximately 1250 pages; illustrated. Also bound into the volumes are several offprints and other publications of the ANS, including: Gaston Feuardent’s 1878 discussion of the Cesnola and de Morgan collections; Herbert Grueber’s article on Roman medallions from the same year; Feuardent on “The Bronze Crabs of the Obelisk”; the 1883 library catalogue; Weeks’s 1892 history of the Society; the 1891 Catalogue of a Medallic Portrait Gallery; and the 1893 Columbia Exhibition of Coins and Medals. Condition of the individual issues is very good to fine, with the bindings being fine. A fantastic set of these scarce publications. The Proceedings are an under-utilized source of numismatic information, featuring notable monographs (highlighted perhaps by Zabriskie’s classic work on Lincoln medals in the 1901 issue), information on the Society itself, and obituaries of famous American numismatists that routinely include information found nowhere else. Before 1878, the Proceedings were printed in the American Journal of Numismatics; a separate Index to the Proceedings may be found in the American Journal of Numismatics Index, published in volume 51 of that publication and also separately. The offprints and other publications that accompany the Proceedings in these volumes are generally rare, and include some that are relevant to the institutional history of the ANS. The first two volumes were at least partly assembled from the group of Proceedings in the Essex Institute (sold in Kolbe Sale 9, lot 728) and were acquired already bound (by Harcourt Bindery) by Syd Martin from Charles Davis at the 2010 ANA; the second two volumes were collected piecemeal by Syd and bound to match by Harcourt.