Maggs Bros.

A legitimate facsimile edition of Matthew Arnold’s famous rarity Alaric at Rome produced by T. J. Wise but which was unwittingly the key to his downfall.

Wise’s limitation statement of “a few copies for private circulation only” somewhat understates the position: in his Ashley Library catalogue Wise admits to thirty on Whatman paper [as here] and five on vellum. But while this is a legitimate type-facsimile which does not claim to be anything other than what it is (except perhaps for that limitation), it has great importance in the story of the exposure of Thomas James Wise’s forgeries by Carter and Pollard. For it was while examining a copy of this type-facsimile that they realised the fount it was printed in was exactly the same as that used for the forged 1847 ‘Sonnets from the Portuguese’ - “The broken-backed ‘f’, the buttonhook ‘j’, the tilting question-mark, they were all there.” so this discovery - coupled with the knowledge that this hybrid fount was unique - established that the prime specimen of the forgeries must have been printed by Richard Clay and Sons and further investigation by the time of publication of Carter & Pollard’s “An Enquiry.” went on to show that the same fount was used for some 16 forgeries in all. And the story of Alaric at Rome does not end there - Ronald Baughman later established that from the type set up for this legitimate type-facsimile edition, Wise also made some counterfeits of the original, omitting the prefaratory material and the printer’s imprint at the end, and switching to a different paper stock.

Provenance: Sir Hugh Walpole (1884-1941), novelist, his smart leather and gilt bookplate on the front pastedown. Later book label of Jim Edwards beneath it.