Noted numismatist and collector extraordinaire, Sarah Sophia Banks (1744-1818), lived inLondon from 1780 with her brother, Sir Joseph Banks, a renowned botanist, and his wife,Dorothea. Sarah collected books, coins, tokens, ephemera, and other objects of interest. Herlibrary, primarily assembled from the mid-1780s to 1818, is a rare surviving library from the lateeighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and its volumes cover three centuries. FollowingBanks' passing, most of her books went to the British Museum (now British Library), butDorothea, her beneficiary, donated her numismatic library to the Royal Mint. In 1816, herextensive collection of other numismatic items was also sent to the Mint. (Besly, The Numismatic Library of Sarah Sophia Banks, pp. 8-9.)

Banks' numismatic works form the catalogue of Besly's book on this historic figure. Besly'scatalogue assemblage was aided by referring to four extant lists of Banks's numismatic library:two produced by Banks, one by her librarian, Jonas Dryander, and a fourth constructed by anunknown writer. Besly opted to focus on the Dryander list to create a new catalogue of Banks'slibrary, because (Besly, The Numismatic Library, p. 10). In addition, Dryander's list has morebibliographic detail and extensive commentary than Banks's own lists.

Sarah obtained the first acquisition for her library, Jernigan's Lottery, at the age of ten, andsigned her full name in the volume. (Besly, The Numismatic Library, p. 11). Banks built up herlibrary through secondhand sources such as auction sales and the purchase of numismaticreference books from personal libraries, including some put together by her friends. The vastmajority of the Banks's library is annotated. She chose not to emphasize literature on ancientcoins, even though books and catalogues in this area of specialization would have been availableto her in abundance. Instead, her library's strengths include the medieval period as well ascontemporary European coinage from her era. In stark contrast, she included few books orpamphlets on the Islamic world or East Asia such as China or Japan. By the time of her passing,Sarah's library contained approximately (Hugh Pagan, in The Numismatic Library, pp. 15, 18, 19).

As a conder token afficionado, I was delighted to find works by Thomas Spence and JamesConder in the catalogue. (pp. 153 and 155). The latter figure gifted some of his works to LadyBanks.

This beautifully illustrated work provides readers with an inside view of a numismatic specialistand bibliophile, conducting transactions for her coins and books. For example, you can learnabout her book annotations on the metal contents of specific coins (p. 98), manuscript numberorder (p. 119), correspondence about trial pieces made at the Royal Mint (p. 134), and Lambeth tokens acquired from a friend (p. 150). Appendix 3 (pp. 172-173) lists previous owners of MissBanks's books. However, the author and title index (pp. 174-179) is in Lilliputian-size printwhich is difficult to read. This reference book is a significant contribution to British numismaticscholarship.

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
NEW BOOK: NUMISMATIC LIBRARY OF SARAH SOPHIA BANKS(https://www.coinbooks.org/v27/esylum_v27n26a03.html)