A REPORT CONTAINING AN ESSAY FOR THE AMENDMENT OF THE SILVER COINS

London: Printed by Charles Bill, and the Executrix of Thomas Newcomb, deceas'd; Printers to the Kings most Excellent Majesty, 1695. Small 8vo [19 by 12 cm], later tan half calf with marbled sides; spine rebacked in modern matching calf with five raised bands, ruled and lettered in gilt. 159, (1) pages; woodcut decorations; text table. Moderately trimmed; title page spotted; very good. An attractive copy of the first and only edition. Quite scarce. Lowndes's Report was a major contribution to the controversy surrounding the recoinage under William III, the principal protagonists being Lowndes, then Secretary to the Treasury, and John Locke. In this work, Lowndes reviews the expedients of former reigns, urges a recoinage, and suggests a change in the standard by raising the nominal value of all coins by 25%. Dekesel L135. Goldsmith 3131. Hirsch 78. Kress 1908. Lipsius 235. Manville 52 (quoting William Nicolson's English Historical Library as follows: "Mr. Lowndes has written in so peculiar & instructive a manner, that our Historians may learn better, by his little Book, how to distinguish and value the Coins of our several Kings, than from all the Volumes of our English Antiquaries.") Soetbeer 27. Wing L. 3323.