Ian Ehling
Head of Department
Lot 39
SHAKESPEAREAN FORGERIES. [IRELAND, WILLIAM HENRY. 1775-1835.] The Confessions of William Henry Ireland. London: Ellerton & Byworth, 1805.
5 December 2019, 10:00 EST
New YorkUS$800 - US$1,200
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SHAKESPEAREAN FORGERIES.
[IRELAND, WILLIAM HENRY. 1775-1835.] The Confessions of William Henry Ireland. London: Ellerton & Byworth, 1805.
8vo (185 x 112 mm). Half calf and marbled boards. Rubbed, text block cracking slightly, minor spotting.
WITH: Miscellaneous Papers, Legal Instruments, The Tragedy of King Lear, and a Small Fragment of Hamlet, from the Original Mss in the Possession of Samuel Ireland. London: Egerton, et. al., 1796. Small 4to (224 x 140 mm). Folded engraved frontispiece portrait of Shakespeare by Samuel Ireland. Contemporary quarter calf and plain boards, paper spine label, edges uncut. Covers soiled, scattered browning and spotting, library stamp on rear paste-down.
Provenance: Francis Bacon Library (bookplate).
WITH: GREATHEAD, BERTIE. 1759-1826. The Regent, a Tragedy. Dublin: Burnet, et. al., 1788. Contemporary wrappers, edges uncut. Chips to spine and edges of wrappers, soiling and creasing to page corners.
William Henry Ireland was a book collector whose father, Samuel Ireland, held a great fascination for Shakespeare's works. Having access to old paper stock at the legal office where he worked, William produced forgeries of documents supposedly written in Shakespeare's hand, the first of which were published by his father as Miscellaneous Papers, Legal Instruments, The Tragedy of King Lear, and a Small Fragment of Hamlet. William then forged two entirely new plays, Vortigern and Rowena and Henry II, purported to be lost Shakespeare manuscripts, but denounced in print as fakes. With Samuel Ireland accused of forgery, his son published a confession, but the family reputation was ruined and neither he nor his father were able to make it whole.
8vo (185 x 112 mm). Half calf and marbled boards. Rubbed, text block cracking slightly, minor spotting.
WITH: Miscellaneous Papers, Legal Instruments, The Tragedy of King Lear, and a Small Fragment of Hamlet, from the Original Mss in the Possession of Samuel Ireland. London: Egerton, et. al., 1796. Small 4to (224 x 140 mm). Folded engraved frontispiece portrait of Shakespeare by Samuel Ireland. Contemporary quarter calf and plain boards, paper spine label, edges uncut. Covers soiled, scattered browning and spotting, library stamp on rear paste-down.
Provenance: Francis Bacon Library (bookplate).
WITH: GREATHEAD, BERTIE. 1759-1826. The Regent, a Tragedy. Dublin: Burnet, et. al., 1788. Contemporary wrappers, edges uncut. Chips to spine and edges of wrappers, soiling and creasing to page corners.
William Henry Ireland was a book collector whose father, Samuel Ireland, held a great fascination for Shakespeare's works. Having access to old paper stock at the legal office where he worked, William produced forgeries of documents supposedly written in Shakespeare's hand, the first of which were published by his father as Miscellaneous Papers, Legal Instruments, The Tragedy of King Lear, and a Small Fragment of Hamlet. William then forged two entirely new plays, Vortigern and Rowena and Henry II, purported to be lost Shakespeare manuscripts, but denounced in print as fakes. With Samuel Ireland accused of forgery, his son published a confession, but the family reputation was ruined and neither he nor his father were able to make it whole.