A complete set of the rare Canadian Antiquarian and Numismatic Journal (CANJ) is expected to bring $3,500 during Kolbe and Fanning Numismatic Booksellers’ 150th auction, which includes highlights from the John W. Adams Library.
The 33-volume set is being offered as Lot 282 of the July 14 sale. It includes the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Montreal’s CANJ first series (Vols. I-XIII, 1872-86); second series (Vols. I-III, 1889-94); third series (Vols. I-XIII, 1897-1916); and fourth series (Vols. I-IV, 1930-33).
According to auctioneers, the final series is “largely unopened” with the entire set being described as “generally near fine” and “most attractive.” It’s the only “truly complete set of this rare and desirable journal that we have offered in at least 35 years,” reads the auction catalogue, which adds complete sets are “very rarely encountered, perhaps due in part to a checkered publishing sequence, though it would appear that some issues were also issued in very small quantities.”
The Canadian equivalent of the American Journal of Numismatics, the CANJ is infrequently offered and includes indispensable information to serious researchers of Canadian numismatics and history, early North American medals, Canadian colonial tokens and more.
ADAMS LIBRARY
The Adams Library is well known for including one of the finest collections of U.S. numismatic auction catalogues ever assembled. Adams himself is the author of the two-volume standard work on these classic catalogues—United States Numismatic Literature (Volumes I and II).