Engravers and Printers of Confederate Paper Money, by Mark Coughlan, 535 pages, ISBN 9798865899242, 8.5 by 11 format, soft cover with perfect binding. Available on Amazon for $55.00.

Numismatic books take the form of prized references and catalogs, but rarely do they delve into the historical context to place numismatics in the realm of human triumphs and foibles. Mark Coughlan is a master of such writing in his new book, Engravers and Printers of ConfederatePaper Money. This is a heavily researched book of more than 500 pages, representing years of effort. The fluid prose and depth of knowledge would suggest that Mr. Coughlan had deep roots in the American South, but he is, in fact, a resident of London whose family has deep roots in the British Isles. Coughlan's uncle rescued many Confederate bonds and treasury notes that had resided in the vaults of a London banker since the Civil War, and eventually gave them to Coughlan, knowing his

The struggles of the Confederacy in its effort to create a money supply are palpable in the historical context provided by Coughlan, and this is what makes the book such compelling reading.

The South had very few resources for printing and engraving, and those that it did were often run by immigrants, such as the German lithographers at Hoyer & Ludwig in Richmond. With the explosive demand for paper money production in the new Confederacy, Christopher G. Memminger, the Secretary of the Treasury and the son of a German quartermaster, turned to the private sector to produce paper money. President Lincoln quickly shut down the first orders at New York firms and Memminger turned to Southern printers. To meet the demand some of these firms hired European engravers and lithographers, many of whom came from England and Scotland. The South had little infrastructure in the making of paper, and Memminger also turned to English paper mills like Hodgkinson's Wookey Hole Mill. Coughlan has unearthed much previously unknown history in the role of English and Scottish engravers, lithographers, and paper mills that you won't find anywhere else in Confederate numismatics. The tour de force of this book is that Coughlan's considerable skills in researching this history extend also to the American South.

To use Coughlan's own words, Coughlan also provides an excellent This book takes numismatics to a new level, and it is one of the great contributions to Confederate history.

Here's some more about the book from the Amazon description:

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Engravers and Printers of Confederate Paper Money(https://www.amazon.com/Engravers-Printers-Confederate-Paper-Money/dp/B0D33XF89G)