COMITIA AMERICANA AND RELATED MEDALS: UNDERAPPRECIATED MONUMENTS TO OUR HERITAGE... A LEAF BOOK

Crestline: George Frederick Kolbe, 2007. New. Large 8vo, brown full morocco, leather spine label, gilt, cloth clamshell box. 351, (1) pages; 57 color plates and an original engraving for J.F. Loubat's "The Medallic History of the United States." New. Special edition. A Leaf book limited to 60 copies letterpress printed by Bird & Bull Press. A magnificent production. Citing from the preface: "The regular edition of Comitia Americana and Related Medals has been shaped for the scholar and the collector... The special edition at hand is intended to serve a different purpose. Here, the authors' objective is to place the reader in a closer relationship with the historical events that are described. To this end, the text of this edition has been prepared by the same letterpress technology in use in the late eighteenth century. The two centuries that lie between the American Revolution and the present day are neatly bridged by the inclusion of a leaf from a book published in 1878. Joseph Florimond Loubat's Medallic History of the United States is the spiritual ancestor of the present volume. Elegantly printed on sumptuous paper, Loubat's magnum opus sets a standard of scholarly excellence that has not been matched and to which, immodestly, we aspire. Between the timeless craftmanship of Bird & Bull Press and the actual leaf from Loubat, the authors seek to reinforce the message that our early medals were intended to convey. It is a noble message. We hope that this special edition will prove a worthy carrier of important memories that comprise our national heritage.