By William T. Gibbs 
COIN WORLD Staff 

It might seem unusual that an organization of collectors who love the feel and smell of old books would sponsor a weekly online journal, but it is not at all out of the ordinary for the Numismatic Bibliomania Society. 

NBS does embrace the traditional publishing field. It publishes The Asylum, a traditional magazine featuring articles on numismatic books, auction catalogs and other forms of numismatic literature. 

However, it also embraces the World Wide Web and the Internet by publishing a weekly online journal, The E-Sylum. 

Online subscribers subscribe to The E-Sylum, which arrives weekly (every Sunday) in their e-mail. Each online issue features research tips, requests for research help, comments from subscribers and other useful information. 

The June 13 issue is typical. 

It features a report from subscriber David Cassel and the status of his research into U.S. postage currency patterns for a book that he is writing. In particular, Cassel notes that an article about his research in the June 14 issue of Coin World resulted in the unexpected contact with the owner of a coin he had wanted to examine. Cassel also received 
useful research advice via The E-Sylum. 

Cassel wrote in the online journal: 
"The owner of the J-325a [postage currency pattern] contacted me through the Coin World article just as you did. As happy as I am to have found this unique coin, I am equally happy to have found you and your organization. I am grateful for your offer of assistance. 

"Maybe you would care to ask your members to advise me of their holdings of postage currency coins of 1863 and the related dated coins of 1868 and 1869. There are still other coins that have been cataloged that may have been incorrectly attributed. Also, I am trying to provenance as many as I can." 

Cassel made an additional request for information from owners of 20th century auction catalogs offering lots of postage currency postage. 

A request for help made in the previous issue may have paid off for the researcher. Russ Logan notes that he can help Pete Smith, who asked for help in the June 6 issue on Civil War patriotic envelopes. 

Earlier this year, a request for research assistance from a Coin World staff member led him to a monograph on John Leonard Riddell. Riddell was a truly remarkable man - a medical doctor, biologist, inventor, New Orleans postmaster, official at the New Orleans Mint and one of the original owners of one of four 1861 Confederate half dollars. The help provided from the request made to The E-Sylum has proven invaluable in researching the feature, which will be published later this year in Coin World. 

The immediacy of the Internet and World Wide Web appears to be one the strongest benefits of this online journal. Members can communicate with each other instantaneously via e-mail. 

The NBS is a nonprofit organization promoting numismatic literature. For more information, see the society's Web site at http://www.coinbooks.org/. You can join the NBS and obtain a subscription to the printed journal, The Asylum, as well as subscribe to the online edition. Contact Dave Hirt, NBS Secretary-Treasurer, 5911 Quinn Orchard Road, Frederick, MD 21701.