Recommended Reading? British Banknotes

I'm looking for books that do a “deep dive” into the details that are on the banknotes of the UK. I don't mind if they're split by nation or issuing bank.

To be clear, I'm not looking for books which are a basic fact file (e.g. size, number issued, variances, signatures, estimated value etc).

For example: N#202356

“The portrait of Newton is an original design by artist -X Y-”.

“The prism on the table beside him represents his work with light; he was the first to prove that visible light was made of several colours by shining light through a prism which broke it into a rainbow”.

“On the obverse, in the central circle, there is the Rod of Asclepius; a winged staff with two interwined snakes, a cornucopia and two leafed branches of the -x- tree”. This represents his work in medicine etc.

“Elizabeth is wearing the robes of the order of the -y-”.

And so on.

Pamela West has done catalogues on British banknotes.

Have a look here; http://www.britishnotes.co.uk/?page=stock_list&categoryid=18 .

Aidan.

A complex subject.

What era of banknotes are you looking into?

Which nations of the UK are you focusing on, and do you include private bank note issues or just government-backed issues.

@BCNumismatics - Hi Aidan, I've seen some of her books, but they look closer to fact files on the banknote rather than what's on the banknote.

She seems to provide a brief description of the design but not go on to why the design exists in the first place.

That's what I want. Something that pulls apart the design elements & talks about why it forms part of the design.

Does she have anything along those lines, or is it more fact file / reference.

@Hibernia Probably helps if I be more specific eh? Forgot just how much there is. I suppose I'd read everything if I could!

I'm most interested in the post decimal issues, so 1971 to present. All UK banks, so Bank of England, the extant Scottish & NI ones (Bank of Scotland, Clydesdale etc).

I've got a reasonable interest in the period roughly defined from the 1914 treasury notes through to Series C (~1970).

I'm less interested in the really early stuff (white notes, provisional banks etc), Crown Dependencies (e.g. Isle of Man), Overseas Territories (e.g. Gibraltar). Not that interested in the extinct banks either such as the British Linen Bank.

Hope that narrows the scope.

This one isn't either: Coin, Banknote and Medal Collector’s Magazines. Token Publishing – Numismatic Interest

Only £20 and free postage atm.

The Pam west books are essentially catalogues of the notes.

Token Publishing, linked above, I think would be your best bet. Coin News Magazine contains an article on banknotes each month - it focuses mostly on coins. Some of the banknote articles may cover areas which interest you. An on-line subscription (£20 a year, I think) will give you 12 monthly issues, and access to all previous issues produced since the magazine started on-line subscriptions. The magazine is downloadable as a pdf, or viewable as an on-line book.

Regarding Northern Ireland notes, there are some books produced by the banks themselves, but none of the ones I have seen go into much detail about the production of the banknotes.