Walter Breen’s Extensively Annotated Beistle

Beistle, M.L. A REGISTER OF HALF DOLLAR DIE VARIETIES AND SUB-VARIETIES. BEING A DESCRIPTION OF EACH DIE VARIETY USED IN THE COINAGE OF UNITED STATES HALF DOLLARS AS FAR AS THE ISSUES ARE KNOWN, COVERING THE UNITED STATES MINT AT PHILADELPHIA, AND BRANCHES AT NEW ORLEANS, SAN FRANCISCO, CARSON CITY AND DENVER. Shippensburg, 1929. 8vo, original full brown flexible morocco, gilt; all page edges gilt; interleaved. xxxiii, (1), 261, (1) pages; frontispiece portrait of the author, signed; portrait plate of David Proskey; primer chart; 7 fine photographic plates. Almost completely disassembled, with the spine lacking, both boards loose and most signatures separated. Very heavily annotated by Walter Breen, with writing on near every printed page and many of the blank interleaves. Condition poor, overall, but the individual pages and annotations are readable and reasonably well-preserved; housed in a custom-made maroon quarter calf slipcase with marbled sides; spine with four raised bands, ruled, lettered and decorated in gilt; green leather spine label, gilt. No. 75 of only 135 deluxe interleaved copies issued with photographic plates. As with many of Breen’s annotated books, this may well be the worst copy we have ever offered (in terms of condition) as well as one of the very best (in terms of overall interest and importance). The degree to which this volume has been annotated seems difficult to overstate. Nearly every printed page is annotated—some with a simple note or two, others with lengthy and detailed comments and observations. The interleaves and margins at times feature tables of varieties, descriptions of new discoveries, rubbings of coins, drawings, and so on. While the early sections of the book contain the heaviest annotations, Breen did not neglect the Liberty Seated coinage, and even the section on commemoratives is marked up (the Barber sections contain the fewest annotations). An exceptionally important copy, of considerable interest to half dollar specialists. This volume was included in the material from the Breen Library purchased by Syd Martin in 2006, and the opening pages include a couple of handwritten comments to that effect Clain-Stefanelli 12243.