Early works -- Adrien Blanchet, Traité des Monnaies Gauloises, Paris, 1905

Title page of Adrien Blanchet,
Traité des Monnaies Gauloises,
Paris, 1905

 From time to time, I will be posting a note about earlier books on Celtic subjects that are available for free download. The first offering is Adrien Blanchet, Traité des Monnaies Gauloises, Paris, 1905. Volume one and volume two

While most collectors of Celtic coins gravitate toward Henri de La Tour, Atlas de monnaies gauloises, Paris, 1892 for a reference on Gaulish coins, I have found Balnchet's Traité des Monnaies Gauloises to be very useful for a number of reasons. While the former is mainly a "picture book" useful for attributions, and really a companion to Ernest Muret's Catalogue des monnaies gauloises de la Bibliothèque Nationale, the latter is scholarly work which gives many alternative attributions that have been offered over the years.

It is also very useful for its lists of coins hoards. As the descriptions of coins in these hoards are mostly rather old it is sometimes difficult to identify certain types and the book has often been neglected by modern numismatists.

For those who prefer to have their books in hard copy, Abebooks often has a very good selection on this title and some are new "print on demand editions". Find out what is available here.