
Simon Roberts
Senior Specialist, Head of Sale
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Senior Specialist, Head of Sale
'SWALLOWED THE PLUM WHOLE': Wise criticises a bibliographer for being too trusting. An autograph letter by Francis Needham of the Bodleian to Wise (as forwarded to Roberts), dismissing the Lamb attribution, is included in the lot. The recipient of this letter appears to be the book collector William Roberts, author of The Book Hunter in London (1895) and Rare Books and their Prices (1895). The "dear old Wells" for whom Wise feels such pity is presumably the American bookseller Gabriel Wells who, after the exposure, wrote what Collins dubs a 'naive booklet', The Carter-Pollard Disclosures (1934), which has the distinction of being the sole publication to appear in Wise's defence.