紫光轩刘氏藏

1879年雕刻版美钞公司藏书票印样

AMERICAN BANK NOTE COMPANY 1795-1879，Ex Libris

美国钞票公司1795年成立于纽约，为许多州和私人银行印刷钞票和邮票。直到1862年，美国联邦政府才接管了生产货币的工作，此后很快就印制了10、20、50、100美元等面值的美国纸币。

注：这张精美的高规格雕版“美钞公司藏书票”印制时，中国的第一张藏书票还没有诞生。时过将近140年后的今天，我也未见到过中国印钞厂给厂里的图书馆印制过一张雕版藏书票。（即使2007年起中国集邮报有“中国藏书票 CHINA“系列，由印钞厂印制，每款印5000张，全拿到社会上去卖钱了。）

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参考书：

American Banknote Corporation is a holding company with subsidiaries in the United States, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, and France. Through these, it helps make cashless shopping, banking, and electronic commerce easier and more secure with its transaction cards and systems such as "smart" cards, stored value cards, and credit cards. The company is also one of the world's largest printers of security documents including checks, passports, stock certificates, food stamps, and foreign currency, and it provides printing and storage services for government and private sector organizations. Nearly 75 percent of its sales occur in foreign markets.

In the Beginning: 1795-1968 

The two companies that merged to create American Banknote Corporation in 1990, International Banknote and U.S. Banknote Company L.P., could each trace its roots to an early printing company. When the United States was established, the individual states and private banks were responsible for printing currency and stamps. American Bank Note Company, founded in New York in 1795, printed bank notes and stamps for many of the states as well as for private banks. It was not until 1862 that the federal government took over the job of producing money, and American Bank Note soon was printing U.S. currency in denominations of ones, tens, twenties, fifties, and hundreds.

When the United States began printing its own money, American Bank Note had to find other customers. By the end of the century, the company was supplying bank notes for 48 countries, and was also printing stock certificates, bonds, and checks, including the new "traveler's checks" introduced by American Express Company in 1891. The second early predecessor, U.S. Banknote, was founded in New York in 1884, and was soon printing similar types of products.

American Bank Note is credited with introducing a now familiar term to the paper industry. It bought most of its paper for certificates and bonds from Crane & Co., Inc., and liking the texture of the latter, sent Crane an order for "more of that bond paper," to use for its letterhead.

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