Brenner, Elias: Thesaurus nummorum sueo-gothicorum studio indefesso Eliæ Brenneri L. annorum spatio collectus, secundum seriem temporum dispositus, atqve e tenebris cum commentatione in apricum prolatus (1731)

Elias Brenner (1647-1717)

THESAURUS NUMMORUM SUEOGOTHICORUM STUDIO INDEFESSO ELIÆ BRENNERI L. ANNORUM SPATIO COLLECTUS, SECUNDUM SERIEM TEMPORUM DISPOSITUS, ATQUE E TENEBRIS CUM COMMENTATIONE IN APRICUM PROLATUS

Holmiae (Stockholm), typis Joh. Laur. Horrn, Anno M.DCC.XXXI (1731)

Description: [in 4to] – Author’s portrait, engr. frontispiece pp. [16], 270, [2] ; many woodcuts in text and 62 fullpage copper engr. plates with coins (of which 3 folding)
Note : 1 engraved plate missing at p.148, Gustav Adolf, tab. VII

SCANDINAVIAN NUMISMATICS. Very important, detailed and richely illustrated work on Scandinavian numismatics by Elias Brenner (1647-1717). This is the second and definitive edition of the work (first printed in 1691 in 2 volumes , Thesaurus nummorum sveogothicorum, libris duobus
comprehensus; Stockholmiæ Sveonum, ex Typographia Joh. Billingsley, in 4to) to which new tables on coins and medals have been added in addition to those designed for the 1691 edition (which Brunet quotes as incomplete) cfr. BRUNET (1842), Vol. I, p. 452. Most of the plates have been sculpted and designed by Elias Brenner himself with the remaining engraved by Swidde Willem, (1661-1697), Reitz Erik,( ca. 1660-1696) and Keder Nils, (1659-1735).

This second edition is considered the most complete and consequently sought after by bibliophiles and collectors of antique coins and medals.The text, in tondo typeface, includes a vast number of woodcut illustrations of different type of coins, nummi, crowns, thalerus, quadratus as well as medals wonderfully carved, beyond the full page copper engraved tables, of exquisite design, the work includes the portrait of the author and a nicely engraved allegoric frontispiece and head and tail pieces with decorated initials. Is worth of note that the illustrations of gold coins in the present copy have been also handcoloured in water colour. Of the three folding tables, one presents an old restoration of an inner margin tear with old paper pasted on the back of the table, and the following two present in the lower part of the fold a modern reinforcement done with transparent tape.

Contemporary binding in half brown leather with five raised bands and letter piece on spine with author’s name and title in gold characters, boards in marbled papers with leather corners, interiors in good antiquarian conditions, wide margins, minor foxing and some limited browning on the external corners of few leaves at the beginning and ending. Due to binder’s error a table of coins in the series of Gustav Adolf, (tab. VII) which should have been bound after page 148 is missing , for the rest a complete copy of this rare book.The most important work on Scandinavian Numismatics

Cfr.: LIPSIUS LEITHZMANN. Bibliotheca Numaria., 57; GRAESSE. Tresor De Livres Rares Et Precieux Ou Nouveau Dictionnaire Bibliographique I, 528; THIEME BECKER, Allgemeines lexikon der bildenden Kunstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart.,IV, 581; Nagler, Monogrammisten II, 137; AARNO MALINIEMI, Elias Brenner kirjojen keräilijänä. Turun Historiallinen Arkisto XI. Turun Historiallinen Yhdistys 1951. ; JUHANI RINNE, Elias Brennerin ja Sören Abildgaardin piirustukset Suomen kirkollisista muistomerkeistä, Historiallinen Arkisto XLIV. Suomen Historiallinen Seura. ELIEL ASPELIN. Elias Brenner : En Forskare och Konstnär från Karlarnes tid, Helsinki Otava, 1896; J.C. BRUNET, Manuel du Libraire et de l’amateur de Livres. IV ed. , Paris, Chez Silvestre (1842), Vol. I, p. 452 .