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Lot 136*

WISE (THOMAS JAMES)

23 May 2012, 14:00 BST
London, Knightsbridge

Sold for £600 inc. premium

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WISE (THOMAS JAMES)

Three autograph letters signed ("Thos J. Wise"), to [Gordon] Wordsworth, describing in elaborate detail how he has discovered what he believes may be a new Wordsworth text, which he had originally assumed was a separate printing of one of the Two Addresses to the Freeholders of Westmoreland, only to discover his mistake after he had had it rebound; while at the same time accommodating himself to his correspondent's evident scepticism ("...It was then in an old contemporary half-calf binding, lettered 'Wordsworth's Address 1818'... I am quite in agreement with you that, whilst there is no certainty regarding the authorship of the Address, internal evidence is very strongly in favour of its being the work of your grandfather. Had I examined the book upon its arrival, instead of only a week or two ago, I should not have sent it to Riviere's to bind. I should have retained the old broken covers, & had it put into a case. The name of W.W. upon a contemporary binding counts for a lot..."), and wondering if he could put in a private offer for a miniature Wordsworth has coming up at Sotheby's ("...I do wish I had some knowledge of the value of such things, but I am hopelessly ignorant of their value..."), 17 pages, on headed paper, small clip-stains, 8vo, Worcester College and Heath Drive, 8 December 1927, 23 January and 3 February 1929

Footnotes

An interesting example of Wise's fondness for rebinding: Collins cites an example of him replacing Southey's homemade 'Cottonian' binding on his copy of Wordsworth's Poems (1807) with apple green levant morocco by Riviere – ' Sometimes it is a mistake for book collectors to have too much money – or too little taste come to that' (p. 214). In the present case, the niggling suspicion remains that the discarded binding was not exactly as Wise describes.

Additional information

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CORNELIUS, MATTHEWS, editor. 1817-1889. The Enchanted Moccasins and Other Legends of the American Indians.

CALEPINO, AMBROGIO. 1435-1511. [Dictionarium.] Calepinus Ad librum. Mos est putidas.... Venice: Peter Liechtenstein, January 3, 1509.

HEARN, LAFCADIO. 1850-1904. [Japanese Fairy Tales.] Philadelphia: Macrae-Smith, [But Tokyo: T. Hasegawa,] [c.1931].

HEMINGWAY, ERNEST. 1899-1961. PUTNAM, SAMUEL, translator. Kiki's Memoirs. Paris: Sign of the Black Manikin, 1930.