THE UNITED STATES HALF CENTS. FROM THE FIRST YEAR OF ISSUE, IN 1793, TO THE YEAR WHEN DISCONTINUED, 1857. ALL DATES AND VARIETIES DESCRIBED AND ILLUSTRATED by Gilbert, Ebenezer - 1916

New York: Published by the Elder Numismatic Press, 1916. First edition, first issue. Small 4to, original russet cloth, gilt. (2), 43, (3) pages; 6 fine matte photographic plates on medium stock bound in throughout the text. Only minor wear, with upper fore-edge corner bumped and rear hinge weak. Near fine. A well-preserved copy of the rare first issue of Gilbert's major work on United States half cents. Gilbert's book has never been fully appreciated, either as a reference or as a rarity in the field of numismatic literature. The proliferation of unidentified reprints is part of the problem; part of the blame also falls to irregularities in its original publication. While the text of the first edition remains constant, the appearance of the plates varies widely. Publisher Tom Elder apparently had prints of the plates made in small batches only as needed. In P. Scott Rubin's "The Printing History of the Gilbert Half Cent Book" (The Asylum, Spring 1992), the mystery of the various combinations of plates and text issued over the years is largely unraveled. Rubin cites Elder's statement in his March 19-22, 1924 sale that "The last of the first fifty copies and all present sets of plates used up." This establishes the first edition, first issue Gilbert as one of the premiere rarities among 20th-century American numismatic books, a designation long obscured because of the availability of a myriad of later emissions, all bearing the 1916 date. The first issue may have exclusively been bound in russet cloth, with later issues being in green cloth or card covers. The first issue was the only one to appear during the author's lifetime, so all signed copies are de facto first issues. Another key to distinguishing between the various issues is the degradation of the 0 in "Obverse 10" on Plate II: here, the 0 is mostly intact. Clain-Stefanelli 12288. Davis 428. Ex Bernard Edison ("R. Tettenhorst") Library, though not so marked.