Henry Cohen

Who was Henry Cohen?

Henry Cohen, was a French numismatist, bibliographer and composer.

Cohen moved from Amsterdam to Paris, where he worked as a music teacher and served as curator of the Cabinet des Médailles at the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

He published several works during his lifetime. Cohen's Guide de l'amateur des livres à vignettes du XVIII Siècle went through four editions and is considered the standard bibliography of French 18th century illustrated books. He is perhaps best known for his two fundamental works on ancient numismatics: the first, published in 1854, dealt with the Roman Republican coinage, while the second, issued in 8 volumes from 1859 to 1868, focused on the coinage of the Roman Empire, from Pompey to Romulus Augustus.

Besides his numismatic works, Cohen wrote several compositions, one of which, the opera "l'Impératrice", was performed, about 1834, in Naples, Paris, and London. Moreover, he published four tracts about musical theory.