Books not (?) from DW's Library

Odds and sods for collectors.
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Charles
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Books not (?) from DW's Library

Post by Charles »

Dear All,

As dedicated collectors we all see from time to time books apparently signed by DW where the signature looks decidedly 'dodgy' ... but fortunately we don't see too many of these because (a) DW is still quite a niche market, and (b) prices still tend to be, at least for most items, relatively modest.

I have recently seen however what may be a new variant, and this concerns books purportedly coming from DW's Library.

I have seen a couple of such books recently ... one in a physical (and prestigious) auction room, and one in an online auction room ... which were - at first sight, and not unreasonably - described as coming from DW's Library, and they bore what appeared to be genuine Pape bookplates .... BUT, if you look in the Blackwell's catalogue, both books, if genuine, should have had profuse handwritten annotations by DW, and have been signed by the authors ... and both of these sets of inscriptions were absent in the books that came up for auction.

I have no reason to believe that DW had two bookplated copies of either of these items ... the one double inscribed and the other completely un-inscribed ... and there is no evidence of this for these volumes in his DW's own (unpublished) 1964 book catalogue.

My provisional conclusion is therefore that someone unscrupulous has taken some genuine bookplates (these come up for auction from time to time, and once, many years ago, I was offered a whole pile of genuine but unused ones by a dealer) and applied them to ordinary copies of the relevant books and then passed the books off to innocent book dealers or collectors as genuine 'ex Libris Dennis Wheatley' items.

Obviously I cannot write this with 100% certainty, but 'caveat emptor' ... buyers beware !

You are probably not getting what you thought you were getting if you acquire such items ... and the more we can 'shun' such items the safer the market in DW collectables will be for everyone.

Best as always, and happy collecting !
Charles
Darren
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Re: Books not (?) from DW's Library

Post by Darren »

That is indeed intriguing, Charles. I wonder what prompted you to double check - did you, by chance, see such a book for sale that you already know exists elsewhere that is not for sale?

It is worth bearing in mind - I certainly would have fallen victim if one came by my way at a price I was prepared to pay. I will heed your words and check in future.

Thanks for the heads up.
Regards,

Darren.
Charles
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Posts: 519
Joined: Sat 4 Jun, 2005 19:25:59
Location: U.K.

Re: Books not (?) from DW's Library

Post by Charles »

In one case I took a gamble and it didn't pay off.

I saw a copy of Thornton Wilder's 'The Bridge of San Louis Rey' described as bearing DW's bookplate come up for auction in one of London's most famous auction houses, and bought it on spec; I was abroad at the time and so I couldn't inspect it.

I was aware from the Blackwells catalogue that the genuine one (item 2196) carried a long inscription, and hoped that somehow this had been missed off the description by the auctioneers in error.

Alas, when the book arrived, it had what appeared to be a genuine DW bookplate at the front, but no inscription.

I therefore assume I (and of course the auctioneers) had been 'had'.

Caveat emptor.

Best wishes and take care !
Charles
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