An Outbreak of Forged Signatures
By Edward Mendelson
Collectors and librarians may wish to be alerted to the emergence of a number
of books with obviously false signatures by Auden. Many of them seem to derive
from the same source, because the false signatures share many common
characteristics.
A few samples are noted below:
- In 2007 Christie's sold a photograph (sale 1938, lot 1008) with
badly-forged signatures of Auden, Christopher Isherwood, and Stephen Spender.
- Guaranteed Autographs in 2011 was offering for sale a copy of
Homage to
Clio with a forged signature, and a copy of
Epistle to a
Godson with a forged signature. As of April 2012, the firm continues to
offer the first of these despite having been warned that both are forgeries.
- Probably from the same source, an eBay seller in 2011 was offering a
copy of
Academic Graffiti with a forged signature apparently made by
the same forger responsible for the two preceding items.
Other such items will doubtless come to light and will be noted here.
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