Printed Reference Works; The Library Must-Haves

That's exactly my point: for all the various collecting areas, what are people's go to printed references? If a collector was new to Byzantine coinage, what works should they look out for, or want? What about Islamic coins? New World Spanish?

There's a whole world of numismatic publishing going back centuries, that many collectors never explore or even know about. And, areas in which a budding collector may hit a brick wall without guidance.

What are those works? Why should collectors struggle through the forest of dealers/sellers like Kolbe & Fanning or Charles Davis without a map?

Surely not everyone buys a Whitman Red Book and thinks that has all the answers?

For my list of must-haves in US coinage, I like the TOP 100 list by the NBS at:

http://wiki.coinbooks.org/index.php...c_Literature br /

I have most on that list and can come up with my own Top 25 lists for many subjects, like Colonial, Early US Copper Half Cents, Early US Copper Large Cents, Small Cents, Dimes, Nickels, Quarters, etc.

Also don't overlook top collection sales catalogs by Heritage, Stacks/Bowers, Superior, Goldbergs, etc. some are almost reference works in their own right, ie: Eric P. Newman sales and John J. Ford, Jr. are considered to be among the finest references works in colonial issues and early pre-Federal and Federal coins, currency and ephemera.

Some of the Newman catalogs by Heritage have entire out of print references reprinted in them (all by Eric Newman of course), The Fugio Cent book he put out, still sells in the $50-75 range yet, you can find a catalog for free (online PDF) or nearly free (used), which includes the complete book.

I'd love to see other lists similar to the NBS TOP 100 US Numismatic Reference Books, for other countries.