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Authors: Julian Symons
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exception, since this is an exceptional case, and tell him something about them. Bear with me, Mr Shelton, if I seem a little long-winded. I shall reach the point of your purchase before very long. And I should like you to bear in mind that what you are hearing now is confidential.” Anthony nodded, mesmerised by the earnest eyes behind the enormous horn-rims, by the eager, gesticulating hands. “Many people know me as a publisher’s reader and literary journalist. Very few know me as a detective of a very special kind, a detective investigating – literary forgeries.” Anthony stirred at the word, which Jebb almost whispered. “The kind of forgeries I mean are very special ones, for they involve first editions. Just how much do you know about first editions, Mr Shelton?”
Anthony shook his head vaguely. The questioner hardly seemed to expect a reply.
“A first edition is a book which is valuable because it is just what its name calls it – the first of its kind. A first edition of a book by Dickens may be worth – let us say – a hundred pounds. The second edition, published in the following year, may be worth only five.”
“But why?” Anthony asked, genuinely puzzled.
Jebb chuckled. “That is a question I cannot answer. Such enthusiasm, such a valuation, is rooted in human intelligence or stupidity. All I can tell you is that the valuation of first editions in a modern sense began sometime in the eighteen-seventies, when people started to collect the romantic poets. It was fostered by booksellers – because, of course, it was profitable to them – and by the ’nineties it was in full swing.
“Now it sometimes happens that a previously unknown first edition turns up. When this happens, the newly discovered first edition immediately becomes valuable, and the book that had formerly been regarded as the first edition declines in value correspondingly. Very much that kind of thing happened with this little book, Passion and Repentance.” Again the cripple’s hand reached out and lovingly patted the little blue book. “For a long time the edition of 1868 was regarded as the first. Then, lo and behold, this little edition, published in 1860, turns up and becomes the first. The 1868 edition is now worth very little and this 1860 edition, because only a few copies are known to exist, is very valuable. Does that suggest anything to you?”
With a look of concentration on his regular features Anthony said, “Must be stupid, I suppose, but I can’t say it does.”
Jebb beat the table in excitement with his thin hand. His spectacles slipped further down his nose, and he pushed them back impatiently. “When I tell you that there were many, many cases like this one – of unknown first editions appearing suddenly – can you see then?” Anthony shook his head helplessly. “Can’t you see what a wonderful opening there was for – somebody – to create first editions, and make themselves a fortune? It’s beautifully simple. You take a pamphlet by Ruskin, or a story by George Eliot, or a poem by Matthew Arnold. You have a number of copies printed, quite privately, being careful to make no foolish mistakes. And then – the crucial point – you transform them into valuable first editions by putting a date on them which is a few years before the date of the known first edition. If the pamphlets and poems were published with the correct date on them, they would be pirate editions which were evading the copyright law, but not first editions. They would be worth nothing. By adding an incorrect date, somebody made them first editions, and made them exceedingly valuable.”
Anthony was rapt. “You say ‘somebody’. You mean – a master forger?”
Jebb’s smile held a touch of complacency. “A master forger.”
“And he’s operating now?”
The cripple shook his head. “No. He hasn’t operated for twenty-five to thirty years.”
“But he’s still alive?” Jebb nodded. “And you know who he
Anthony shook his head vaguely. The questioner hardly seemed to expect a reply.
“A first edition is a book which is valuable because it is just what its name calls it – the first of its kind. A first edition of a book by Dickens may be worth – let us say – a hundred pounds. The second edition, published in the following year, may be worth only five.”
“But why?” Anthony asked, genuinely puzzled.
Jebb chuckled. “That is a question I cannot answer. Such enthusiasm, such a valuation, is rooted in human intelligence or stupidity. All I can tell you is that the valuation of first editions in a modern sense began sometime in the eighteen-seventies, when people started to collect the romantic poets. It was fostered by booksellers – because, of course, it was profitable to them – and by the ’nineties it was in full swing.
“Now it sometimes happens that a previously unknown first edition turns up. When this happens, the newly discovered first edition immediately becomes valuable, and the book that had formerly been regarded as the first edition declines in value correspondingly. Very much that kind of thing happened with this little book, Passion and Repentance.” Again the cripple’s hand reached out and lovingly patted the little blue book. “For a long time the edition of 1868 was regarded as the first. Then, lo and behold, this little edition, published in 1860, turns up and becomes the first. The 1868 edition is now worth very little and this 1860 edition, because only a few copies are known to exist, is very valuable. Does that suggest anything to you?”
With a look of concentration on his regular features Anthony said, “Must be stupid, I suppose, but I can’t say it does.”
Jebb beat the table in excitement with his thin hand. His spectacles slipped further down his nose, and he pushed them back impatiently. “When I tell you that there were many, many cases like this one – of unknown first editions appearing suddenly – can you see then?” Anthony shook his head helplessly. “Can’t you see what a wonderful opening there was for – somebody – to create first editions, and make themselves a fortune? It’s beautifully simple. You take a pamphlet by Ruskin, or a story by George Eliot, or a poem by Matthew Arnold. You have a number of copies printed, quite privately, being careful to make no foolish mistakes. And then – the crucial point – you transform them into valuable first editions by putting a date on them which is a few years before the date of the known first edition. If the pamphlets and poems were published with the correct date on them, they would be pirate editions which were evading the copyright law, but not first editions. They would be worth nothing. By adding an incorrect date, somebody made them first editions, and made them exceedingly valuable.”
Anthony was rapt. “You say ‘somebody’. You mean – a master forger?”
Jebb’s smile held a touch of complacency. “A master forger.”
“And he’s operating now?”
The cripple shook his head. “No. He hasn’t operated for twenty-five to thirty years.”
“But he’s still alive?” Jebb nodded. “And you know who he
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