Book and other reviews - British

[UK Decimal +]

I am currently watching for books on the subject of British coinage through the ages, as my interests are turning from the latest mass of new coins which will never appear in circulation to ones that were once "everyday" coins, some of which I knew well in my younger days.

As I obtain new (second-hand!) books, I will give a brief review of them and try to give them some form of "star rating" out of five, based on how useful I find the information in them.   Please feel free to ask questions or comment on them so that we can build up a full description of them.   The entries are not necessarily in the order in which I obtained the books.   Where possible, publication details will be included.   I might also add some details about specialised websites, which can be included as they are "electronic books".

You might also like to start a similar topic on books about coins from your country.

Bill.

[UK Decimal +]

The dust-cover of this book shows the title as "Money in Britain" which was the title of a book by the same author which was published in 1962.   This book is a fully extended version of that work.

The book covers, up to page 238, English, Scottish and Irish coins from pre-Roman to the early stages of decimalisation and is followed by a section (pages 239 to 267) about the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands taking up to page 267.   Following a Bibliography, etc., pages 272 to 380 are a semi-tabular summary of coins by period and Monarch, followed by a few pages of translations of mottoes which have appeared on British coins over the centuries.   There is also an index.   A few details of banknotes are included where appropriate.

Covering over two centuries, the information is necessarily brief, but the author has covered the subject as fully as can be expected in the space available.   It has left me wanting to find out more!   That apart, it is well written in plain English and is very "readable".   Being in date order, it is also useful as a reference book and the semi-tabular section is very useful in giving a summary of the preceding chapters.

There is little information about the various methods of striking coins, but the economic and other circumstances at the time (wars, etc.) are mentioned to put the number and types of coin produced into context.   The availability of metals such as silver and gold are shown to have been directly linked with coin production at various periods, together with the need for tokens and banknotes.

Each chapter is completed with drawings of some of the coins mentioned and a description is given for every such illustration which draws attention to any special points about the coin.   There are a few photographs but these tend to be of a general nature.

Taken together, this book gives a good all-round picture of British coins, but lack of space left me wanting to find out more.   Recommended, and I give it three stars, based on 1 - Readability and presentation (good), 2 - Illustrations (drawings, good), 3 - General information (good), 4- Detail (limited by space), 5 - Information on specific coins (again limited by space).   I hope that I am being fair and to balance the amount of information packed into one volume I am adding a "plus" to the three stars, making it ***+ out of five.

Title: Money in Great Britain and Ireland
Author: C R Josset
Published: David & Charles, Newton Abbot, Devon, 1971
ISBN: 0 7153 5305 5
Price new: £4.20
Cost me: £0.01 + £2.80 P&P via Amazon. Ex-public library copy in good condition

Bill.