Over the past weekend I obtained a pre-publication copy of the following excellent book. This work, which is lavishly illustrated in colour throughout, will now form the standard work on this important early series of mining paranumismatics.

THE MINING AND RELATED TOKENS OF WEST CUMBERLAND by Michael Finlay

Published by PLAINS BOOKS; 1st  November 2006.
A4 format, (210 x 295mm); pp i-viii, 1-196
275 illustrations, mostly in full colour
Hardback, cloth, gilt titles. ISBN-13: 9781872477015 ISBN-I 0: 1872477011

A Limited Edition publication of 500 copies, each numbered and signed by the author.

Since the publication in 1922 of Tickets and Passes of Great Britain and Ireland, by Davis and Waters, which listed without illustration some 70 mining and related tokens from West Cumberland with their varieties, little has been written on the subject, apart from a few short articles. The present work includes more than double that number of tokens, and seeks to place them in their geographical and historical contexts. It is not intended as a full catalogue of all the recorded types and varieties, but as a study of the author's collection, formed over the past five years, together with a few tokens from other collections, examples of which have so far eluded him. There is much new light on a series for which up to now there has been a dearth of reliable information, and several token issuers are identified for the first time. It is hoped that the inclusion of short biographies of the main token issuers and their families, with in many cases their portraits, (many of which have not previously been published), their houses and their heraldry, may give the work an interest to the general reader as well as to those interested in the local history of West Cumberland and the history of its mining industry.

Copies of the above book may be ordered through the author for £50 each plus £5 p&p (within the UK). Trade enquiries welcome.

For more details contact Michael Finlay on [log in to unmask] . Alternatively see the following web site www.michaelfinlay.com/ .

Regards

Mark Smith
(Visit the UK's National Mining Memorabilia Association web site)