An Enquiry into the Nature of Certain Nineteenth Century Pamphlets.

Carter, J. ; Pollard, G.

Edité par Constable and Company Limited, London, first edition, 1934, 1934

A propos de cet article

Cloth, top edge gilt, 8vo, 22 cm, viii, 400 pp, plates. The classic exposé of Thomas James Wise, eminent bookman, creator of the Ashley library and past-President of the Bibliographical Society, as a forger. An elegantly written and gripping read. "This book is a fully documented exposure of a group of more than fifty 'first editions' of such eminent authors as Wordsworth, Tennyson, Dickens, Thackeray, the Brownings, Swinburne, George Eliot, William Morris, R. L. Stevenson, and Rudyard Kipling. These items are mostly of the type of the 'privately printed' or 'pre-first' pamphlet. They appear in all the standard bibliographies and have been generally accepted for upwards of thirty years. Yet, in the light of the evidence assembled here, more than thirty of them are shown to be forgeries and the status of the remainder to be open to considerable suspicion. The exposure of the real character of these books introduces scientific methods which have never before been applied to bibliographical problems of this period. The paper has been analysed under the microscope and its evidence assessed in the light of some original research into the history of paper manufacture. The peculiarities of type have been traced to the printer. The involved story of the establishment of these books in bibliographies and in the rare-book market is patiently unravelled. The first and narrative part of the book is divided into two sections: DEDUCTION and RECONSTRUCTION; the second part consists of DOSSIERS for the whole group. In this section, all the relevant details of description, auction record, negative evidence, provenance, bibliographical references, etc., are set out in full, and each dossier is completed by an estimate of suspicion attaching to the book or a final verdict of absolute proof. These revelations will entail considerable revision among the bibliographies of the authors concerned. The whole story of suspicion, detection and proof gives a vivid picture of a fraud which, for its extent and for the extraordinary skill of its conception and execution, is without a parallel in the history of bibliography and book-collecting." -from the blurb. Badly torn with loss at top of spine, spine and top of front board faded.

N° de réf. du vendeur ABE-51069

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: An Enquiry into the Nature of Certain Nineteenth Century Pamphlets.
• Éditeur: Constable and Company Limited, London, first edition, 1934
• Date de parution: 1934
• Reliure: Couverture rigide
• Édition: Edition originale
• Catalogues du vendeur:
  • Wise, T.J.