I am delighted to announce that I have purchased the major part of the numismatic library of the eminent British numismatist Christopher Blunt (1904-1987).

"Few can have made a more wide-ranging contribution to their chosen field of historical study than Christopher Blunt did to British numismatics". Thus began Ian Stewart's (now Lord Stewartby) masterful obituary of Christopher Blunt published in the Proceedings of the British Academy 76, pp. 347-381.

Christopher Blunt is beyond question the greatest figure of the 20th century in the study of British coinage. From January 1918, when he first started at Marlborough School, his friendship with John Shirley and Harry Earle Fox, encouraged him to start to form a library of books and catalogues. The Fox brothers were the leading coin-collectors of their day, specializing in the Edwardian penny coinage from 1279 to 1344, and in 1939 Shirley Fox bequeathed his important collection to Blunt.

Christopher Blunt's interest in the provenance of coins is reflected in his outstanding library of auction sale catalogues, mostly annotated with prices and buyers' names, and going back to the early years of the 18th century is the main focus of the library. In addition, most of the standard works on British coins are present, and one of his copies of Ruding's "Annals of the Coinage" is inscribed "To Christopher Blunt. J. Shirley Fox, Marlborough, 1923".

Douglas adds:

To visit Douglas' web site, see:www.douglassaville.com