FORGERY

Tennyson forgery: manuscript document presenting itself as a letter from Alfred Lord Tennyson to the wife of William Ewart Gladstone, agreeing to a visit as long as he can smoke his pipe.

Author: 
Tennyson forgery: Alfred Lord Tennyson, one of the greatest of English poets, Poet Laureate to Queen Victoria
Tennyson forgery
Publication details: 
Stated to have been sent from 'Aldworth / Oct 25 - 76'. [25 October 1876]
£180.00
Tennyson forgery

An apparent forgery of a letter the text of which is quoted in Hallam Tennyson’s 1897 memoir of his father. 1p, 12mo. On discoloured wove paper. Aged, and with repair with archival tape at extremities on reverse. Folded twice for postage. Reads: ‘Aldworth / Oct 25 - 76 / My dear Mrs Gladstone / On Monday then - if all be well. As you are good enough to say that you will manage everything rather than lose my visit - you must manage that I may have my pipe in my own room whenever I like? / Yours ever / A Tennyson/’.

[C. M. Ingleby, Shakespeare scholar who unmasked John Payne Collier.] Autograph Letter Signed, ordering a work he doesn’t ‘actually want’ from a bookseller’s catalogue.

Author: 
C. M. Ingleby [Clement Mansfield Ingleby (1823-1886), Shakespeare scholar who unmasked John Payne Collier as a forger
Publication details: 
‘Valentines / Ilford. / Novr. 19. ’73 [1873] Essex’.
£45.00

See his entry, and that of Collier, in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In fair condition, on worn and spotted paper. Folded twice for postage. The recipient is not named. Addressed to ‘Dear Sir’ and signed ‘C. M. Ingleby’. He offers ten pounds for ‘yr. copy of the Encycl: Metropolitana’, and will pay the carriage if he sends it. ‘I don’t actually want it: but its a good book, & I’ll give that as an investment.’ He will send a cheque, once he receives ‘a Post Card: with “yes” on it’. Ends: ‘Other matters in yr. excellent Catalogue I postpone.’

[Henry Fauntleroy, banker and forger.] Autograph Letter Signed ('H Fauntleroy') to Sir Cuthbert Sharp, written from Cold Bath Fields Prison a few weeks before his hanging at Newgate in front of a crowd of 100,000.

Author: 
Henry Fauntleroy (1784-1824), banker and forger, hanged before Newgate after a trial at the Old Bailey [Sir Cuthbert Sharp (1781-1849), soldier and antiquary]
Publication details: 
'C. B. Fields [i.e. Cold Bath Fields Prison, London] October 14th 1824'.
£500.00

See Fauntleroy's entry in the Oxford DNB. Although accounts of his depravity are exaggerated, Fauntleroy led a dissolute life, and appropriated securities worth around £360,000. During his trial at the Old Bailey he called seventeen merchants and bankers to testify to his integrity, but his defence was unsuccessful, and he was hanged outside Newgate, before a crowd of 100,000. The present item is 1p, 4to. Bifolium, addressed on reverse of second leaf to 'Sir Cuthbert Sharp | &c &c', with endorsement.

[ William Roupell, forger and fraudster. ] Two Autograph Signed documents, the first a draft [ for his election agent ] of a circular to electors on his standing as Member of Parliament for Lambeth; the second another election letter (draft?)

Author: 
William Roupell (1831-1909), forger and fraudster, Member of Parliament for Lambeth, 1857-1862, ruined in the Roupell Case
Publication details: 
Both from Roupell Park, Brixton. March 1857 and 25 April 1859.
£80.00

The first letter has the damaged signature 'William: Roupe', the second is signed 'W: Roupell'. ONE (March 1857): 1p., 8vo. Signed autograph draft of a circular Roupell made for his election agent at the time of his first parliamentary contest. On the reverse of a letterhead of 4 Wolsingham Place, Lambeth, which was the office of solicitor R. C. Barton, who was Roupell's election agent (see George Hill, 'Electoral History of the Borough of Lambeth', 1879). In poor condition, heavily worn, with loss to the outer edges and text, including the end of Roupell's signature.

[ William Roupell, forger and fraudster. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('W Roupell'), expressing thanks for support in his campaign to be re-elected Member of Parliament for Lambeth.

Author: 
William Roupell (1831-1909), forger and fraudster, Member of Parliament for Lambeth, 1857-1862, ruined in the Roupell Case
Publication details: 
Roupell Park, Brixton. 28 April 1859.
£120.00

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium with mourning border. In good condition, on aged and worn paper. Possibly produced in court, as docketed at head: 'facsimile | printed 1st & 3rd' (the present item is not a facsimile). The male recipient is not identified. He wishes to reiterate his thanks 'for the hearty support and valuable assistance you have so kindly tendered in securing my Reelection as one of your Representatives for the Borough of Lambeth'.

[ Richard Harington, Acting Chief Justice of Gibraltar; counterfeiters ] Autograph 'Draft Judgment' in the case 'Rex v Alvarez & ano[the]r [ Galliano ]', the accused being counterfeiters of Moroccan money,

Author: 
Sir Richard Harington (1861-1931) of Ridlington, 12th Baronet, as acting Chief Justice of Gibraltar
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the 'Judges' Chambers', 'Supreme Court | Gibraltar.' Dated by Harington 'Gibraltar | 18 May 1901'.
£180.00

10pp., 8vo. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, on ten leaves held together with a brass stud. With a number of deletions and emendations. The first paragraph reads: 'Rex v Alvarez | Rex v Galliano | This was an application by the Attorney General acting on the instructions of the British Minister in Morocco that certain dies, a punching machine & a quantity of

[William Angus Knight, Professor of Moral Philosophy, University of St Andrews.] Autograph Letter Signed ('W. Knight.') to James Dykes Campbell, expressing regret at revealing the existence of Wordsworth's 'Axiologus' sonnet, and attacking T. J. Wise

Author: 
William Angus Knight (1836-1916), Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of St Andrews, 1876-1902 [James Dykes Campbell (1838-1895), Coleridge biographer; Thomas James Wise. forger]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the 'University of St Andrew. N.B. [Scotland]'. 2 January 1892.
£120.00

2pp., 12mo. In fair condition, on aged and lightly-worn paper. Written in a difficult hand. The letter begins: 'My dear Campbell. | You will find all I know about Axiologus, and Miss Maria Williams, in a prefatory note Vol I of my Edition of W[illiam]. W[ordsworth].s Poems (not Life).' He confirms that the poem is by Wordsworth, and expresses regret at 'letting it be known: for it led Tutin [John Ramsden Tutin (1855-1913)] of Hull to go & print the sonnet for private circulation some years ago.

[Catalogue by Messrs. Birrell & Garnett, Ltd. (J. E. Norton, Graham Pollard).] Early Newspapers.

Author: 
Messrs. Birrell & Garnett, Ltd. (J. E. Norton, Graham Pollard)
Publication details: 
Catalogue 31. 1931. Offered for Sale by Messrs. Birell & Garnett, Ltd. (J. E. Norton, Graham Pollard). No. 30 Gerrard Street London W.1.
£80.00

24pp., 8vo. Stapled and unbound. On aged and worn paper, with rusting staples. Two indexes in small print on title-page: 'Titles' and 'Places of printing other than London'. 101 items, ranging from the 1645 Mercurius Academicus to the Fleuron, 1923-1930, the last entry ending 'We take this opportunity of expressing our appreciation of the generous review of our TYPE SPECIMEN CATALOGUE [copies of which are still available at 3/6] which occurs on pp. 211-2 of vol. VII.' Those interested in the forger Thomas J.

['Forgery of the Commercial Bank of Scotlands Guinea Note.'] Lithographic notice in copperplate handwriting, 'given to enable the public to distinguish the forged from the genuine Notes', with illustrations.

Author: 
[Commercial Bank of Scotland; George Salmond, Writer [solicitor], Glasgow [Procurator-Fiscal of Lanarkshire]; forgery]
Publication details: 
Without place or date, but with reference to 'George Salmond, Writer, Glasgow'. Early nineteenth-century.
£650.00

2pp., 4to. On leaf untidily torn from an album, resulting in a ragged edge with minor loss of text (a few parts of words). On aged and chipped paper.

Autograph Letter Signed from Polish refugee Dr Severin Wielobycki to an unnamed lady, enclosing a printed report of his brother Dionysius Wielobycki 's trial in Edinburgh for forging the will of Margaret Darling, headed 'Dr Wielobycki's Trial'.

Author: 
Severin Wielobycki (1793-1893) and his brother, Dionysius Wielobycki (1813-1882), Polish refugees who both trained as doctors in Edinburgh, before becoming homoeopaths [Isabella Darling]
Publication details: 
Letter: 55 Queen Street, Edinburgh. 26 January 1857. Newspaper report reprinted 'From the EDINBURGH NEWS of Saturday, Jan. 10, 1857.'
£180.00

Both items in fair condition, lightly-aged and worn. Severin Wielobycki's letter is 1p., 12mo. On the recto of the first leaf of a bifolium. It reads: 'Dear Madam. | I am much delighted that you take interest in my brother; all friends of his are of the same opinion tat he has been treated very unjustly. I hope your influence will if not relieve him, at any rate shorten his horrible sentence. | I beg to enclose two copies of the document according to your request' (only one copy present). The report of 'Dr Wielobycki's Trial' is 1p., 4to, on grey paper, in two columns of small print.

Autograph Letter Signed ('MM.') from Maton Marble, editor of New York World, to 'My dear Jack', also 'J R H'. With newspaper cutting comparing Marble's handwriting with that of a cipher dispatch by 'Moses', in article on vote-rigging and forgery.

Author: 
Manton Marble (1834-1917), American journalist, editor of the New York World
Publication details: 
Letter: on letterhead of 'The World' Office, 35 Park Row, New York. 'Saturday AM' [no date]. Newspaper cutting, without date or place.
£56.00

Both items good, on aged paper. Letter: 1p., 12mo. He has 'spoken to three or four of the members' on his behalf, 'most gladly - and have written to Secretary MacDonough to vouch himself & present my voucher to the Com. on Admissions.' Newspaper cutting: Titled 'The Effort to buy a vote in Florida. | Tell-tale fac-similes of dispatches, cipher and plain. | A comparison between a significant telegram of Moses and one signed by Moses Manton.' Giving facsimiles of the two documents, with explanation: 'We present herewith a facsimile of the cipher dispatch in which Moses informs Mr.

Letter Signed "Sidmouth" to an unnamed correspondent.

Author: 
Viscount Sidmouth, statesman (DNB), here "Home Secretary".
Publication details: 
Whitehall, 8 Dec. 1817.
£120.00

Two pages, 4to, copperplate text by secretary, fold marks, marks of sellotape (half inch square at most) at edge, small chip bottom corner,m text cleqar and complete. Sidmouth, who has received a letter in favour of the condemned John Vartie, forger, informs his correspondent that "the Case of this unfortunate Person had the most full and deliberate consideration, at the time when the Report was made to the Prince Regent in Council.

A collection of twenty cuttings from American newspapers mostly relating to autograph collecting.

Author: 
American Autograph Collecting [New York; the Declaration of Independence]
Publication details: 
[Boston, New York and other places]; 1867-1893.
£150.00

Varying in size from a few lines to a column nineteen inches in length, and on aged high-acidity paper. In good condition, though frail, and with a few closed tears. Texts clear and complete. In the remains of a stamped envelope (postmarked Philadelphia, 21 February 1912), addressed to E. H. Lauer of the Cadmus Book Company. Fewer than half the items are dated. The dated items include a long and interesting article on a forgotten English-born Philadelphian forger, headed 'A FORGER OF AUTOGRAPHS. | ROBERT SPRING'S SUCCESS IN BOLD LITERARY FRAUDS.

Autograph card signed,

Author: 
Fay Compton
Publication details: 
no date, but circa 1920.
£20.00

Actress (1894-1978). Card, on one side of which is printed, "30 CONDUIT ST / BOND STREET / W / TELEPHONE / 1923 / MAYFAIR / INSTEAD thanks / .... / for .... letter, and order for Photographs which are being proceeded with. / .... 192 ...." Over this, lengthwise and upwards, is the signature "Fay Compton", and above it an attempt at forgery, with the "Compton" reasonably convincing, but with "Fey" for "Fay". On the blank reverse another signature by Compton. The actress would appear to have provided these examples of her signature for copying onto her publicity photographs.

Syndicate content