"[f.1: manuscript:]The Abstract of Some Proofs of The Medals which are to be with many others in the First Cabinet of The British Treasury. Drawn, & Engraven by Nicolino Haym of Rome. The Which are given as a sample of ye Work to the Curious.
[ff.2–3 the printed prospectus:] Proposals for Printing by Subscription, on a Fine Royal Paper, a book, entituled, Il’ Tesoro Britannico, delle antichità Greche, e Latine or, the British Treasury of Greek and Roman antiquities. By Nicolino Haym, of Rome.
This work will be divided into Four Parts, or Cabinets;
the First will contain the Description of such Antient Greek and Roman Medals, as are in the several Cabinets of the Nobility and Gentry of Great Britain.
The second will exhibit the Gems, or Intaglias. The Third, Statues, Basso Relievo’s, Images, Busts, &c.
The Fourth will be Miscellaneous; containing an Account of such Antiquities as could not properly be rang’d under any of the foregoing Heads, as Antient Weights, Rings, Sacrificatory Vessels, Lamps, Urns, Inscriptions, &c.
Of which various Sorts of Antiquities, those only will be taken notice of, which have not yet been communicated to the Learned World, except where it may be proper to rectifie Mistakes, which the Author has occasionally discovered in other Works, and which may render the several Volumes already Published on Subjects of this Nature more compleat.
The whole Work will be illustrated throughout with Explications and Observations on the several Antiquities contain’d in it. There will moreover be inserted several curious Dissertations in Latin, communicated to the Author by such Learned Gentlemen as have made some of these Antiquities more paticularly their study.
It will be printed in the same Character, and on the same Paper with these Proposals; and the Figures will be engraved from the Originals by the Author himself, with the utmost Care and Exactness.
The Author proposes at present to publish the first Cabinet only, containing an Account of the Medals, which will consist of three large Volumes in Quarto.
The Conditions for Subscribing are these, viz. [a payment schedule follows, amounting to five guineas for the first part]
’Tis hoped that Gentlemen who have a Taste for the Study of Antiquities will express a readiness to promote a Work that will, when perfected, somuch conduce to their own Satisfaction and Advantage, as well as to the Honour of the British Nation.
P.S. The Author hopes it will be no Objection to his Work, that it appears in the Italian Language; however, for such as are not sufficiently acquainted with that Tongue, an Appendix will be printed in English, and delivered gratis to the Subscribers, with short Explanations."
'The text of the prospectus is followed by eight pages (ff.4–11) printed with engravings of 49 coins, and identifications of the coins have been added by hand. The coins in the Abstract are drawn principally from the Wren and Sadler collections, but there are also some pieces from Abdy, Kemp, Benedetti, Pembroke and Devonshire, and from Haym’s own collection. One or two of the engravings were later reworked for the printed book. Nine of the engravings do not subsequently appear in the book, in part because some belonged to the late Roman empire or later, which was not covered in Vols. I–II. One might guess that the proposed Volume III might have covered the later period, from the end of the third century and including the Byzantine empire, and cognate Arabic issues.
The last two folios have engravings of other things, which would presumably have belonged to other sections of the proposed set of books, and two further coins appear on f.12.' (Burnett 2020b, pp. 964-5; the engraving are listed fully at Burnett 2020b, pp. 1582-3)
