In a recent article, I mentioned a photograph that Joseph Saxton took from a window in the U. S.Mint in 1839. It would be years before photos would be used to illustrate coin books. For thenext 35 years, publishers used woodcuts, steel plate engravings and metal-ruled plates. It wouldnot be until 1875 that the first photo illustrated book appeared.

The name of Sylvester Sage Crosby should be familiar to anyone with enough interest innumismatics to read The E-Sylum. Although parts of his story may be familiar, perhaps otherparts are not.

Harvard graduate, the Reverend Jaazaniah Crosby (1789-1864) and wife Hulda Robinson Sage(1795-1835) welcomed their sixth child in 1824 and named him Sylvester Sage Crosby after hismaternal grandfather, Yale graduate, the Reverend Sylvester Sage (1765-1841). The young childdied on April 7, 1825. As often happened back then, they gave the same name to their ninthchild, born in Charlestown, New Hampshire, on September 2, 1831.

The second Sylvester married twice. He married his first wife, Mary Elizabeth Capelle, onSeptember 1, 1855, and she died on October 26, 1874. Less than a year later he marriedMehitable Ackers on September 15, 1875. Neither marriage produced children.

He began working as a watchmaker at age 17 in Charlestown, but he moved to Cambridge,Massachusetts, and set up business in Boston. He was a partner in the watch and jewelrybusiness with Horatio Towne at 421 Washington Street in Boston. In addition to numismatics, heenjoyed archeology, astronomy and fungiculture.

Crosby contributed an article on the cents of 1793 to the American Journal of Numismatics fortheir issue of April 1869. Later he compiled AJN articles into The United States Coinage of 1793Cents and Half Cents published in 1897. This included description of the patterns of 1792.

Crosby was one of the founding members of the New England Numismatic and ArcheologicalSociety on April 6, 1866. He was the club's first curator. In 1869, the vice president, CharlesChapman, suggested the club form a committee to write a reference on the coins of ColonialAmerica. Crosby was chairman of the committee with other members Charles Chapman, DudleyR. Child, Chas. S. Fellows, James E. Root and T. Edward Bond.

The book had a grand title, The Early Coins of America; and the Laws Governing Their Issue.Comprising also Descriptions of the Washington Pieces, the Anglo-American Tokens, ManyPieces of Unknown Origin, of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, and the First Patternsof the United States Mint.

The ambitious plan was for the book to be published in ten parts and sold by subscription at $1per part. Each part would be 32 pages, include one plate of photographic illustration and sent outwith a paper wrapper. Print run for the book would be 350 copies.

That plan failed to materialize as the book progressed. The committee of six provided littlesupport and left the work to Crosby alone. He scoured historical archives for the legislativerecords establishing coinage and borrowed coins for photography. By the final printing, the listof subscribers had grown to just 160 with 22 organizational subscribers and 138 individuals.That generated revenue of just $1600 and not the anticipated $3500.

The first five parts were printed by Charles Chaplin who dropped out with remaining partsprinted by T. R. Marvin & Sons, printer for the American Journal of Numismatics. Financialsupport came from the New England Numismatic and Archaeological Society as publisher in1873 but by completion in 1875, Crosby was listed as publisher.

The book was longer than expected and final parts 11 & 12 were published together to finish thebook at 384 pages. Subscriber were asked for an additional $2 to get these final parts. Theoriginal print run was 350 copies and many buyers had their sets bound in a variety of bindings.Unbound sets are seen occasionally and the paper wrappers are scarce. The book wasrepublished in 1945, 1965, 1970, 1974 and 1983.

Each of the parts included one Heliotype photo plate. The process had been developed inEngland by Ernest Edwards in 1869. Waxed glass plates were covered in bichromated gelatinexposed by sunlight through a negative. These were washed and the image transferred to apewter printing plate.

The photos have a very uniform appearance and were not made from actual coins. Plaster castswere made from the coins and the photos taken of those plaster casts. An advantage was thatcoins could be gathered from various sources and did not need to be in the same place at thesame time to allow for photography. The obverse and reverse of a coin could be shown on thesame plate.

Reviews of the book were generally positive and the book remains a classic work to this day. Areview was published by Edward Maris in the October issue of the American Journal ofNumismatics. It was complimentary of some aspects of the book but critical for noted omissions.It was also critical that some additional collections were not included among the sources. Marismade up a Woodburytype plate of 48 state coppers missing from the book and offered it to theoriginal subscribers for 50 cents. Some had it bound with their copies. This additional plate wasincluded in the 1983 Quarterman reprint of Early Coins of America.

Crosby died at home in Cambridge on August 18, 1914. He is buried at the Monroe Cemetery inLexington, Massachusetts. Crosby was given an honorary membership in the AmericanNumismatic Society and the American Numismatic Association. The ANS had names ofnumismatic scholars cut in stone for the frieze of the building. Crosby was the only Americanhonored in this way. In 1970 he was inducted into the ANA Numismatic Hall of Fame.

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
SYLVESTER SAGE CROSBY'S PERSEVERANCE PREVAILS(https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v16n15a16.html)
ARTHUR HENRY FRAZIER (1899-2000) : Joseph Saxton (1799-1873)(https://www.coinbooks.org/v25/esylum_v25n39a14.html)