Author Description

Excerpt from A Handy Guide to Jewish Coins Grace before and after meals is not only a pious custom but the mark of a properly grateful man. This Preface is by way of being both Graces rolled into one. As it comes first in place in this little book, it is meant to express the gratitude of the reader for all that is best in it: as it comes last in order of time of writing, it is meant to express the gratitude of the author for all the help and kindness, which alone have made this book possible. It is therefore rather a record of thanks, than a recommendation of merit, either real or supposed, as is the stark or disguised purpose of most of its kind. First and foremost my thanks are due to Messrs. Spink tor giving me the opportunity of writing in their Numismatic Circular; and in connection I owe more than I can put down to my friend, Mr. L. Forrer, if he will allow me to call him so. He has been at the most unsparing pains both in the text and the illustrations; his knowledge, his experience and enthusiasm, invaluable. Then I have to thank the Rev. Dr. Burney, Fellow of S. John's College, Oxford for reading and correcting the proofs; and supplementing my meagre Hebrew attainments by his well known scholarship. It would be less than graceful, if I were not to acknowledge that even if my stock of Hebrew is but meagre, the interest with which he inspired me twenty years ago at Oxford is living still. Whatever may be thought of the general treatment of the subject, there can be but one opinion of the illustrations, which are at present of a superlative excellence, never before reached in the study of Jewish coins. For them too I have to thank many kind friends. No single collection could provide all the specimens necessary. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical wor