MASTER FORGER

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20926, 4 January 1938, Page 4

MASTER FORGER

FAKED BOOKS AND LETTERS ! BRITISH MUSEUM DECEIVED | I LONDON. December 1. A “leviathan of forgers,” who - 2 lame and handicraft are known to at least a dozen people in London whom he has robbed, and whose work has deceived the British Museum, is still alive. Mr A. J. A. Symons, the bibliographer, ‘nld the Autographs and Graphological Society this in London. Mr Symons was speaking on “Torgere- in first editions and autographs,” a said that he hoped this master forger, whom he described as a holar and collector gone wrong.’ ’’..J turned his attention to oth?' pursuit. “Once in every generation,” said Mr Symons, “there emeses a maso. forger. £’.r’r ren are the menace the rare book dealer ba e to fact There is one alive now. His na and craft are known to a dozen r • e booksellers in the West End, - ;cL of whom he has robbed of hum r i‘.s of pounds. Market Flooded “I have heard of no new draught of his sinister brew for ten or more years.” Mr Symons explained that this forger would offer a bookseller a mixed collection of autograph letters of obvious value of which two or three would be genuine. “I have an example of his workforged Shelley notebook. “It was passed as geunine by the British Museum,” said Mr Symons, “then accepted as the greatest authority of all Shelley experts, and yet it is a fake. “Its detection was due to the forger, over-confident, flooding the market tco quickly with Shelleyana. One buyer, becoming suspicious, took his newly-acquired Shelley letters to the Bodleian for comparison with some written from the same place on the same day. The fradulent post mark was. by a tiny fraction, the wreng size. “This forger has cost the rare book trade thousands of pounds, and it is to the credit of our dealers that they have borne the loss themselves.” said Mr Symons. Mr Symons laughingly offered to execute a forgery for any of his audience. “I have forged cheques, inscriptions and designs, always without detection,” he said. “I practise forgery as a hobby, but only with the consent of the persons whose signatures I reproduce.”