Notae Numismaticae - Zapiski Numizmatyczne (11.2016)

RECENZJE / REYTEWS

DOI: 11.12797/ZR 11.2016.11.19
KRZYSZTOF MACIEJ KOWALSKI
Computationis et commemorationis testimonia. W kręgu badań kalkulo-
logicznych, medaloznawczych i numizmatycznych, Grajewo 2015, pp. 127;
ISBN 978-83-940275-6-8
Published in 2015 by EKO-DOM, Grajewo, this contribution from Krzysztof
Maciej Kowalski brings together twenty-three short studies in Polish published
earlier (2003-2014) as stand-alone articles in Przegląd Numizmatyczny, thejoumal
of numismatics issued in Gdańsk. The studies, which in this book are treated
as separate chapters, are united both by the person of their author and by their
subject matter, which focuses on tokens, counters, medals, medallions, medalets,
and materials related to numismatics. Contrary to the standard practice commonly
adopted in academic contributions published in Poland, there is no footnoting
in this text. lndividual chapters mostly - but not in every case - end with a list
of reference literaturę. Where there is no bibliography, we may assume that this is
because the artefacts and topics directly related to them have not been addressed
in previously published contributions. The book is divided into five parts.
The first two are concemed with objects which it is traditional in British
nomenclature to describe as paranumismatica, and in American terminology,
as exonumia. Two other parts include studies of graphic representations of subjects
related to numismatics. The last part of the book focuses on materials related to
the history of coin and medals collecting.
The first part of the book, titled “Tokens and Counters,” opens with
the essay “Calculological Artefacts as a Source of Historical Knowledge,”
a concise summary of the research findings madę by K.M. Kowalski in his studies
in the history of materiał culture with, additionally, a discussion of the author’s
futurę research plans in this field. One of these plans is to complete and publish
a study concerned with new minor disciplines auxiliary to the study of the history
of materiał culture (Adiutor historicus. Nowe małe dyscypliny pomocnicze historii
kultury materialnej). In this new book, the author means to distinguish fifty new
sub-disciplines of the history of materiał culture, among them: “akiarology”
(the study of needles, pins, and needle-cases), “aleology” (the study of artefacts
madę of bonę, horn, antler, and tortoiseshell), and “annulology” (the study of
finger-rings). Still another of these newly distinguished disciplines is calculology
(the study of tokens, counters, and coin-like objects), the principal tenets of which
are presented under the “Tokens and Counters” subheading. It is only to be regretted,
however, that the author chose to focus on only some aspects of calculology, most
particularly, calculological epigraphics, concemed with the inscriptions on tokens,