Thomas James Wise
| Thomas James Wise | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | 7 October 1859 |
| Died | 13 May 1937 (aged 77) |
| Nationality | British |
| Notable works | Bibliographies for many early poets and dramatists |
| Spouse | Selina Fanny Smith, Frances Louise Greenhaigh |
Thomas James Wise (7 October 1859 – 13 May 1937) was a bibliophile who collected the Ashley Library, now housed by the British Library, and later became known for the literary forgeries and stolen documents that were resold or authenticated by him.
Wise began collecting books as a schoolboy, spending his pocket money at the barrows in Farringdon Street. He was a keen collector of first editions in original condition. His interests were poetry followed by drama and his collection dating back to Elizabethan publications was an exhaustive representation.
His collection was funded by selling duplicates and acting as an agent for wealthy collectors. Wise was given an honorary M.A. degree by the University of Oxford and elected an honorary Fellow of Worcester College due to his services to bibliographical science. He became a member of the Consultative Committee of the Friends of the Bodleian and was elected President of the Bibliographical Society in 1922–1924.
Wise became a noted bibliographer, collector, forger, and thief. He parlayed his international reputation as a collector of books and an exposer of forgers and forgeries into a career in creating and selling forgeries. He privately printed nearly 300 works of English authors, some of which were debunked as forgeries by Carter and Pollard.
In 1934 his reputation was damaged by the publication of "An Enquiry into the Nature of Certain Nineteenth Century Pamphlets" by John Carter and Graham Pollard. In their writing and expose, Carter and Pollard were astute in their use of irony. This proved that a large number of rare first edition pamphlets from 19th century authors which depended solely on Wise's published works for their authenticity were fakes. Wise and a fellow bibliophile Harry Buxton Forman had been involved in the fabrication and sale of many of the same pamphlets to collectors. Forman and Wise's crimes are generally regarded as one of the most notorious literary scandals of the twentieth century.
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