This extra edition of The E-Sylum brings sad news. Numismatic bookseller and longtime NBS member John F. Bergman of Lakewood, CA, died early yesterday morning, October 18th, after a brief illness. He was 56 years old.

David Lange writes: "I was so sorry to learn of John Bergman's passing. His absence at the recent Long Beach show, where he was always a fixture at the back of the hall, was noticed immediately, but I had no idea that his illness was serious.

When I first began acquiring out-of-print numismatic literature, around twenty years ago, John was among my first influences and sources of supply. In more recent years, it was always a relief for me while working coin shows to wander over to his expansive display and do some browsing and gossiping.

I can't place a value on the quality time that I spent with both John's inventory and the man himself. He was always thoughtful, mild mannered and gracious. In a small fraternity such as ours, the loss of one such individual is a profound one, indeed."

We hope to have more information in time for Sunday's regular issue of The E-Sylum.

Meanwhile, Tom Fort, editor of our print journal The Asylum, asks that reminiscences of John be sent to him for publication in the 2000 No. 4 issue of The Asylum. Tom can be reached at this email address: etfort@aol.com.