THE MEDALS OF THE MASONIC FRATERNITY, DESCRIBED AND ILLUSTRATED. PARTS III & IV.
Boston: 1880. Crown 4to, original printed wraps. 145-329, (1) pages; text illustration; 5 lithographic plates, numbered XIII-XVII, depicting medals; 1 fine chromolithograph depicting the Arms of the Freemasons, laid in (presumably as issued). Front printed wrap detached and stained, but present; rear lacking. First text page stained. Spine separating into signatures. Good or better. [with] (Marvin, W.T.R.). MASONIC MEDALS. SUPPLEMENT. No place of publication [prob. Boston], undated [c. 1912]. Crown 4to, unsewn, unbound signatures. Drop title; 5-252 pages [lacking 253-(257) and following blanks]; 1 halftone plate. Very good. Housed together in new custom-made clamshell box (blue and tan linen with black leather spine labels, gilt). Item #4659
A very rare and bibliographically complex book, still important as a foundational reference in this area. Though 160 copies were printed of the main work, copies rarely appear on the market, perhaps because most appear to have been distributed through Masonic channels. Lyman Low claimed that ìtwenty copies perished by fireî and a postcard in the library of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts confirms that many copies were indeed destroyed in a fire in Marvinís office. It has never been reprinted. Marvinís Supplement is also very rare, and nearly ever copy that has been offered at auction has been (as is this copy) incomplete. It was lacking from both the Champa and Bass library sales, and the example in the American Numismatic Society Library ends at page 254. Indeed, the most complete copy seen by us stops mid-way through the description of medal MCCLXXVII. Both the main work and the Supplement reprint material published by Marvin in the American Journal of Numismatics over a period of some 35 years. It is clear that some editing and correcting was made between the periodical form and its publication in book form. The book was printed in four parts, and probably distributed in two (I-II and III-IV). The last time a complete set was offered at auction was in Kolbe Sale 100 (ex the John J. Ford, Jr. library sale), where it brought $2400. Clain-Stefanelli 14218. See Davis 658. This book weighs more than the estimated 3 pounds and may incur extra shipping charges.
Price: $300.00