Lecture: Joseph Hone, T. J. Wise’s Book Hospital
16 December @ 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Society of Antiquaries Burlington House, Piccadilly, London
Joseph Hone, ‘T. J. Wise’s Book Hospital: A Further Study in Theft and Sophistication‘
In 1956 it was revealed that Thomas James Wise, a former President of the Bibliographical Society, had stolen more than two hundred leaves from the British Museum to make up ‘perfect’ early playbooks, both for his own collection and for sale to clients in Britain and America. This paper reopens the case, considering: firstly, how new evidence demonstrates the complicity of Wise’s regular binder, Riviere and Son; and, secondly, what the discarded remnants of Wise’s hospital stock reveals about his bibliographical tastes and priorities.