The E-Sylum:  Volume 4, Number 37, September 9, 2001, Article 9

EDWARD GIBBON'S NUMISMATIC WRITINGS 

   E. Tomlinson Fort writes:  "In reply to H. Douglas Owens' 
   question about Edward Gibbon as a numismatic writer: 
   Most people may not know this, but Gibbon was well 
   acquainted with ancient numismatics. His letters, journals and 
   autobiography record that he studied the coins in a number 
   of great collections in France, Italy and Switzerland.  Around 
   1765 he began work on an essay entitled: "Principes de Poids, 
   des Monnoies, et des Mesures des Anciens,"  ["Principles of 
   the weights, coins and measures of the Ancients."  Gibbon 
   was bilingual and equally at home in French as he was in 
   English.] 

   For a number of reasons, the work was never finished and 
   never progressed beyond the stage of some notes and a very 
   rough and uncompleted draft.  The original manuscripts are 
   now in the collection of the British Library.  It was eventually 
   edited and published under the guidance of Gibbon's friend 
   and literary executor Lord Sheffield in 1815.   Numismatic 
   discussions also appear in Gibbon's most famous work, 
   "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" 
   (London, 1776-1788).  If you are using a modern edition, 
   be sure that it is unabridged since most of his numismatic 
   comments are in the extensive footnotes  [I recommend the 
   three volume edition edited by David Womersely recently 
   published by Penguin Books]. 

   I will quickly admit that Gibbon's numismatic work was not 
   of the volume or level of many scholars but he was well read 
   in the subject and had a firm grasp (by the standards of his 
   day) on the use of coinage as historical evidence." 

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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