Colossal Fraud

New Zealand Listener, Volume 17, Issue 430, 19 September 1947, Page 8

Colossal Fraud

| WAS ‘heartily in agreement with Dp. H. Munro when, in his talk fro: 4YA, he stated, "It may seem an immoral thing to say, but I don’t see the objection to forgeries!" He was speaking of the forging of collectors’ items, such as antiques of all descriptions, with particular reference to old books and first editions. "Why are first editions valued?" he asked, and indeed one may

well wonder. Surely not on account of: literary value, since any reprint is as: good for the purpose of reading; not for beauty, many first editions being notable examples of typographical ugliness. No, the first edition has nothing more

than a scarcity value, and so is in reality no more interesting than the faultilyprinted rare postage stamp. After this sane and sensible introduction to the talk, it was impossible for the listener to condemn the subject of it, a certain literary notability who died as recently as -1938-Thomas Wise. This eminent bibliographer and collector seems to have been responsible for flooding the tare book market with forged first. editions which were sold for magnificent sums to reputable collectors. The details of the printing and publishing of these masterpieces which Mr. Munro supplied were fascinating. Somehow I couldn’t do anything at the conclusion of this exposure of Thomas Wise but lift an imaginary hat to the man responsible for such a delightful swindle. The gem of the talk was Mr. Munro’s final suggestion, that it wouldn’t be a bad thing for colléctors to buy up these bogus first editions; at the height of Wise’s success they were worth impossible sums, to-day they are worthlessbut who knows, in the not-too-distant future a genuine Wise forgery may have, for @ collector, as much value as though it were the real article it originally counterfeited!