Money

DK Eyewitness Books

by Joe Cribb

Full-color photos by the British Museum. "An attractive 'Eyewitness Book' with striking photos and a logically organized text describing what money is, the first coins, paper money, how money is made, and coin-collecting. Photos of current coins and bills used worldwide are of special interest." - Kirkus

Genres: History, Childrens, Reference, Money, Nonfiction, Art, Business

63 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Joe Cribb specializes in the history of coinage in Asia, with particular focus on the pre-Islamic coinages of the territories now represented by India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Kashmir, and Afghanistan. His interests also cover the history and practice of numismatics. He was President of the Royal Numismatic Society (2005–9) and is a council member of the Oriental Numismatic Society. He is currently working on a catalogue of the coins of the Kushan kings of ancient South and Central Asia (first to fourth centuries AD).

Joe Cribb is a trustee of Ditchling Museum, Sussex, and coordinator of the Eric Gill Society.

Reviews

[Philip · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is an update to the original Money, which I first bought and read when it came out in 1990, but which I spotted in the library and so thought I'd take another look at to see what had changed in the past 25 years.

Since the bulk of the book is historical, most of the layout remains unchanged; i.e., same photos in the same places.* But the text throughout the whole book has been both slightly enlarged and massively dumbed down, an apparent concession to today's generally dumber readership and lower educational standards. A few "before and after" examples:

Original text:

"This demon-dispelling Chinese coin sword was hung above the bed of a sick person to ward of evil spirits. Sometimes a coin-shaped exorcism charm (top right) was used instead. In Britain, monarchs gave sick subjects a gold coin (center) to help cure them. In Germany, silver medals like the one to the right were thought to protect a persona from the plague."

Updated text:

"This Chinese coin sword was meant to ward off evil spirits. British monarchs gave sick subjects gold coins to cure them. In Germany, silver medals prevented the plague."

Original text:

"Corfu and the other Ionian islands were for a long time the only parts of Greece to escape Turkish Ottoman rule. From 1402 until 1797 they were ruled by Venice, then passed briefly through the hands of France, Russia, Turkey and France again until 1815, when Britain took control. In 1863, they finally became a part of Greece."

Updated text:

"For a long time, Corfu and the other Ionian islands were the only parts of Greece to escape Turkish Ottoman rule. From 1402 until 1797 they were ruled by Venice. They became a part of Greece in 1863."

And so it goes for the whole book.

The new "Money for Dummies" text aside, there are a few major updates. The pages on how coins and banknotes have been updated, as there have been a lot of technology changes, particularly in banknotes (adding security threads to paper and/or going to plastic notes), and many of the pages on individual countries' money have been updated, largely to reflect the introduction of the Euro, (the overall books remains depressingly Western-centric, with 22 pages dedicated to Europe and the Americans, while Asia/Africa/Australia get a total of six).

If read by itself, this book remains a good introductory resource to the fascinating (to some at least) world and history of money. But when compared to the original, it represents another (albeit miniscule) sign of the overall decline of civilization.

* The only place where I spotted a swapped-out picture was next to a caption asking "Are you a miser?", because - the only reason I can think of - is the original illustration looked...maybe too Jewish? Anyway, found this an amusing bit of political correctness.

[Dan Castrigano · Rating 3 out of 5]

Least exciting to read so far. Things I learned: old Italian money = lira; old French money = franc; old German money = mark; old Spanish money = peseta; old Portuguese money = escudo; first paper money printed by Chinese; numismatics = study or collection of coins or paper money; gold doubloons and silver pieces of eight came from the Spanish empire in the New World; the Euro was launched in 2002; German Fugger family = huge banking family in 15th and 16th centuries

[Alina · Rating 3 out of 5]

An okay and very brief overview of currency. The book is heavily Eurocentric and mostly gives a short tour of coins used within certain countries. In addition, the book is organized strangely since it's neither chronologically nor alphabetically sorted.

[Aneesa]

My kid kept asking me about the first money so I was excited to find this book. She immediately lost interest. I can't blame her—only two spreads were dedicated to pre-coin currencies, and one of them was titled "Funny money?"

[Bernie4444 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great place to start

I have an older version of this book. The latest has added a section on the shared currency. The cover on the older version has more exotic coins such as heart cutouts. However, any version of this book shows a lot of colorful pictures of scripts and coins. There are simple descriptions of the making and measuring of money. If you are a coin collector the descriptions help enhance the collection by telling what the symbols represent on the coin as well as some of the history. My only disappointment was the lack of information on porcelain notgeld. This makes you wonder what else may be missing. Well, you cannot stuff everything into 64 pages with pictures.

[Erin Field · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thinking Day Finland 2025

[Stefaan Van ryssen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 1990 so don't expect to find Euro's. Pictures are interesting, comments lack a bit of depth. So, more a book for starting collectors than advanced numismatists.

[Vannessa Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was fascinating to see what money looked like as far back as 3rd century BCE.

Money not only consisted of coins but of shells, beads, salt and stone.

We learn about the evolution of money, earliest bank, inks used to color money, bank notes, money orders, gold bars and how other forms of trade were considered money such as wine and art.

Money also covers methods people use to hold on to money: purses, money belts, banks, money boxes, piggy banks and the like. We learn about coin collection and the banking timeline.

Before reading Money, I never thought of its history.

[Hamlet · Rating 4 out of 5]

i didn't finish book, but there have few things I learn. The money had long history. Every country have they own kind of money. People used money to did the business. The first money made of metal, the first paper money made in 10th century. Some country believe money have strong power. In China, people made the paper money for the death people.

[Little Timmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

OK I know these are supposed to be kid books but they are awesome! Great pictures and just enough text to make you want to learn more. Great choices for a beginning history reader or to start an older reader out in a new area. Every time I pick one of these up and read it I learn new things. Highly Recommended

[Melanie Boss · Rating 3 out of 5]

informational. Great variety of pictures and very informative. :D Very boring though. They could have done a different variety of history, rather than how it started in each country, because pretty much all of it came from Europe, so it sounded like the same paragraph on every page.

[Cool]

LIBRARY SHELVES

[Sam K]

This book is very interesting, it teaches me new things about

[Ryan]

That was very informational! Good stuff.