LAUS VENERIS

1866 · London

by (FORGERIES). (BINDING - ROOT & SON). SWINBURNE, ALGERNON CHARLES

London: Edward Moxon & Co. [i.e. Thomas J. Wise], 1866. One of "very few" copies printed. 215 x 140 mm. (8 1/2 x 5 1/2"). [1-] 28 pp.
Very pretty Arts & Crafts navy morocco by W. Root & Son (stamp-signed on front turn-in), a dotted frame enclosed by gilt fillets surrounding a design of roses on long, twining stems, raised bands, turn-ins similarly gilt, magenta silk endpapers. Front pastedown with photographic ex-libris of F. E. Dinshaw and inventory label numbered "7142" and ink inscription "Swi." Todd 293f; Carter & Pollard, "An Enquiry into the Nature of Certain Nineteenth Century Pamphlets," pp. 272-77. A neatly repaired half-inch (truncated) fore-edge tear at the same place to each of the 13 leaves, otherwise very fine, the text clean and fresh, and the binding extremely lustrous and virtually unworn.

In a handsomely animated Arts & Crafts binding, this is almost certainly a spurious edition of Algernon Swinburne's poetry that was part of a shocking bibliographical scandal perpetrated by Thomas J. Wise (1859-1937). Wise made his name as an author and bibliophile who helped build the market for Romantic authors. His bibliographies became the standard for these authors, and he was trusted as an expert by scholars and collectors alike. He was perfectly placed, therefore, to perpetrate the con he pulled off. As Alan Thomas tells us, his clever scheme consisted of creating editions that "ought to have existed"--that is, privately printed editions of poems predating their publication, a practice that was common among poets of Wise's era. Between approximately 1886-99, he created about 50 of these forged editions. He carefully oversaw the printing--claiming to the printers he worked with that he was creating facsimiles--and worked to hoodwink his scholarly friends, particularly Sir Edmund Gosse, into corroborating the backstories he had cooked up for these editions. He would likely have gotten away with everything had not two young booksellers, John Carter and Graham Pollard, become suspicious. In 1934, following extensive research, the two released "An Enquiry into the Nature of Certain Nineteenth Century Pamphlets," which proved that Wise's editions were not genuine. "The effect," Thomas writes, "was like a bomb exploding in the hushed and cloistered haunts of literary scholarship." "Laus Veneris" is one of the "early editions" included in the exposé. This pamphlet was supposedly printed by Bradbury, Evans, & Co. for Moxon early in 1866, before the official publication of the poem in "Songs and Ballads" late that summer. While Carter and Pollard stop just short of conclusively calling it a forgery, they strongly indicate that it is one. They poke numerous holes in the timeline and background provided by Gosse (citing Wise), and note that the pamphlet is set in Small Pica modern style, a font they were unable to find in any genuine Bradbury, Evans, & Co printings. Notably, that font is used in six confirmed and four suspected forgeries. The reason for the Carter and Pollard's' reluctance seems to be that this pamphlet was "discovered" and marketed by Wise during the lifetime of Swinburne, who (apparently out of loyalty or affection owed to Wise) never publicly rejected it as false. In its early years, this copy was clearly treated with the care befitting a genuine first. It is gracefully bound, the twining flowers and shockingly bright silk endleaves perfectly fitting the sensuous poem about enslaving erotic love. The London bindery of William Root & Son consistently turned out excellent work, both on fine bindings like the present one and on trade bindings of multi-volume sets. Packer lists the firm in business in Red Lion Square in 1899-1901, and the December 1942 issue of "The Rotarian" notes with regret that Root had been bombed out of their premises on Paternoster Row during the 1941 Blitz. It is possible that the owner who commissioned this binding was F. E. Dinshaw, whose bookplate and inventory label are on the front pastedown. Dinshaw (d. 1936) was a Mumbai lawyer and financier who served as financial advisor to the Maharaja of Gwalior. He helped found the Sind Arts College and was well-known for his charitable work. The 1866 "Laus Veneris" is a very rare book. We were able to trace no copy at auction since 1980. Rare Book Hub lists four copies sold between 1967 and 1980, always described as extremely rare and always bringing substantial hammer prices.. (Inventory #: ST20287)

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