This is a great story. I wish someone would make a movie of it--Mild-mannered British man fools brash Texan librarians and sells them fake goods. Clever lady librarian exposes the hoax. Too bad Alex Guiness isn't around to make the film.
I guess Fannie had some connection to Syracuse (where her papers have been deposited) as it was in a Syracuse newsletter that I learned her role. She also wrote a lot about rare books in the 1950s and 1960s. She is one of the women library history has overlooked. As I rumble through these things at least I added her to the Wikipedia article on Wise. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_James_Wise
Isn't that funny?! I can't tell if Texas gave back the items stolen from the British Museum. Poor Wrenn, snookered by Wise. But then again, he got a big payoff for the books.
It is really convoluted and the "horror" depends on recognizing the value collectors placed on these rarities. Not sure if 21st century people would be so struck by it. To think UT paid a quarter of a million in 1918., It's Henry Jamesian to imagine the American man swindled by Wise.
This is a great story. I wish someone would make a movie of it--Mild-mannered British man fools brash Texan librarians and sells them fake goods. Clever lady librarian exposes the hoax. Too bad Alex Guiness isn't around to make the film.
I guess Fannie had some connection to Syracuse (where her papers have been deposited) as it was in a Syracuse newsletter that I learned her role. She also wrote a lot about rare books in the 1950s and 1960s. She is one of the women library history has overlooked. As I rumble through these things at least I added her to the Wikipedia article on Wise. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_James_Wise
"Ironically, the Wise forgeries are a focus of collections and literary interest."
So, he was such an awesome criminal they've had to tip their cap to him?
elm
funny olt world, innit?
Isn't that funny?! I can't tell if Texas gave back the items stolen from the British Museum. Poor Wrenn, snookered by Wise. But then again, he got a big payoff for the books.
What a clever plot!
It is really convoluted and the "horror" depends on recognizing the value collectors placed on these rarities. Not sure if 21st century people would be so struck by it. To think UT paid a quarter of a million in 1918., It's Henry Jamesian to imagine the American man swindled by Wise.