Call Number:

C1298

Repository:

Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division

Extent:

• 1 box
• 0.2 linear feet

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Thomas James Wise Collection, Box and Folder Number; Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Date:

1894-1932 (inclusive)

Creator:

Princeton University. Library. Special Collections and Wise, Thomas James, 1859-1937

Form:

Correspondence -- 19th century and Correspondence -- 20th century

Abstract:

Consists of selected correspondence of Thomas James Wise, the English bibliographer and noted forger of the early 20th century

Thomas James Wise was an English bibliographer and book collector who also privately printed nearly 300 works of English authors, some of which were later exposed as forgeries.

The collection consists of selected correspondence of Thomas James Wise, the English bibliographer and noted forger of the early 20th century. The bulk of the correspondence consists of 29 letters of Wise sent to R. W. Chapman at Clarendon Press at Oxford, dating between 1923 and 1932. The letters primarily discuss the publishing of several of Wise's catalogues and bibliographies including a Catalogue of Printed Books, Manuscripts and Autograph Letters for the Ashley Library, A Bibliography of the Writings in Prose and Verse of Algernon Charles Swinburne, and A Swinburne Library. Of particular interest is Wise's recurrent mentioning of his acquisition of certain pamphlets and "older" or "variant editions" of authors' works which he offers to Chapman and others for examination. In several letters, Wise makes reference to the book collector George Charles Williamson, who became one of the biggest collectors of the Wise-Forman forgeries. Williamson had urged Chapman to write the introduction to Wise's Catalogue. Wise also occasionally mentions his forgery partner, H. Buxton Forman.

Other correspondence includes a letter to Edmund Gosse with suggestions regarding an introduction to a bibliography, with Gosse's autograph response on the verso, and a letter from Gosse, dated Dec. 22, 1913, about a 'revise' of "Gold Horns." Wise received letters from scholars asking about his work, and included here is a letter of thanks to a Mr. Alwin J. Schener, telling him that he is preparing a catalogue on Dryden, which is to be followed by another on Pope. In addition, there are two letters to William Michael Rossetti, one of which is about the Thackeray Society of which Wise was the secretary.