Maris, Edward. VARIETIES OF THE COPPER ISSUES OF THE UNITED STATES MINT IN THE YEAR 1794. Second edition. Philadelphia: Printed by William K. Bellows, Corner Fourth Street and Apple Tree Alley, 1870. Small octavo [18 by 11.5 cm], finely bound in purple calf, sides intricately bordered in gilt, front cover lettered in gilt; spine with four raised bands, ruled and lettered in gilt; turn-ins decorated in gilt; marbled endpapers; original printed pink paper covers bound in; binding signed by Grace Bindings. 16 pages; binder's leaves added for bulk. Very good or so: folded and somewhat wrinkled before binding, with neatly repaired marginal tear at the spine two inches from the bottom. Binding slightly sunned at spine, else fine in a near fine slipcase constructed with the same marbled paper used in the volume. Of legendary rarity. The initial edition of this landmark publication--the first separately printed work on large cents--appeared only the year before, but an additional four varieties had been discovered following its release. All were duly noted in this new edition, which also corrected a number of errors in the text and made an attempt to gauge rarity. An additional 1794 half cent variety had also been discovered, bringing the number of those up to six. Given these substantial improvements, one wonders why the second edition did not reach an audience larger than the first. In fact, it is far scarcer, with only ten or twelve copies currently known to have survived. We last handled a copy in 2013, when we brokered a private sale between two collectors (we also catalogued the copy sold by Heritage in their 2018 sale of the Eric P. Newman Library). This copy was unknown to numismatic bibliophiles before it was acquired by John Bergman, who sold it to Dennis Mendelson. The 1870 Maris, the 1881 Andrews, and the 1923 Chapman are the keys to completing a large cent library. This sale is proud to include both this and a copy of the 1923 Chapman. Ex Dennis Mendelson Library (Kolbe Sale 52, lot 9); ex Kolbe 1997 fixed price list, item 1303 at $5250; ex Jim Neiswinter Library.