LE POIS, Antoine.

by Antoine Le Pois

£4,250 · Offered by Sokol Books

A very good copy of the first French edition of this beautifully illustrated treatise on Roman numismatics. In the manner of Vico and Erizzo, it was the first French work in its field to rely on the author s personal collection rather than ancient sources. Antoine Le Pois (1525-1578) was a French physician and passionate numismatist. He studied under Jacques Dubois, the scholar turned anatomist who was the first to teach the anatomy of the human corpse in France. Once Le Pois had returned to Nancy, he began his collection and, as physician, entered the service of Charles III, beloved Duke of Lorraine and a fellow coin enthusiast who had funded his education. His brother, Nicolas Le Pois, also received funding, and was responsible for the work s posthumous publication and explicit dedication to the duke. In the preface, Antoine muses on pursuits which mix utility and delight then frankly analyses the merits of coin collecting; although the greed of collectors and the constituent materials of the objects themselves can render it disadvantageous, it can also offer invaluable insight into the practices of antiquity. This use of coins as historical evidence, already recognised by Petrarch in the 14th century, is now declared by Le Pois to be especially helpful when trying to visualise structures, ornaments, and implements which survive elsewhere only in textual format (so he formulates a hypothesis on how the elusive diadem might have looked) or, indeed, not at all. Organised in t

• Binding: Hardcover

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