[NUMISMATICS]. MORELLIUS, Andreas. Specimen Universae Rei Nummariae Antiquae. [Bound with]: Ezechielis Spanhemii ad Eximium Virum. Leipzig: J. Thoman Fritsch, 1695. Small 8vos. First title illustrated with title vignette, pictorial headpieces, decorative initials, and 26 plates depicting coins. 2 volumes bound in one. [viii], 262, [2, blank]; 339 pp. Bound without index and errata. Contemporary full mottled calf, boards paneled in blind, label missing on spine. SECOND (AND BEST) EDITIONS OF BOTH TITLES.
Condition
Binding heavily worn, front board detached (yet present), spine chipped, text toned, soiled, foxed, with some creasing. Fair. Sold as-is, not subject to return.
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Morellius was commissioned to catalogue the vast coin collection of Louis XIV; he expanded the major task with an even more ambitious one - to catalogue every rare coin in Europe. Although he had intended to publish a multi-volume work, these two volumes were all that were published.