FORGING AHEAD: The true story of the upward progress of Thomas J. Wise, Prince of Book Collectors, Bibliographer Extraordinary and otherwise

New York: Putnam, 1939. Pp. xvi+316(last blank), frontispiece portrait plus 11 plates, appendix, index; demy 8vo; red cloth, lettered in gilt, top fore-corners of boards a trifle bruised, the spine gilt occasionally slightly dulled; top edges navy (faded), fore-edges uncut; price-clipped dust wrapper, slightly foxed and browned (heavier at backstrip), the front panel and flap detached, edges lightly rubbed and split; small surface graze to upper pastedown, a little light foxing; G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1939. First edition. *Tipped onto the upper free endpaper is a handwritten envelope from T. J. Wise, stamped, postmarked Jan 24 1930, addressed to F. L. Pleadwell. The contents, a short autograph letter from Wise, together with a typed note from the recipient, are loosely inserted. In his note Pleadwell explains that he had previously written to Wise about 'a copy of Lord Byron's Armenian Exercises and Poetry, Venice, in the Island of S. Lazzaro, 1852, while the usual edition is dated 1870. In his reply Mr Wise stated that he was much attracted by Byron, and was then engaged in printing a Byron Bibliography. He further stated: "I had not seen an edition of the little Venetian volume with a date so early as 1852, & I am grateful to you for bringing it to my attention". In January 1930 I became aware of the fact that the volume I had . . . was not the same work. I wrote Mr Wise to correct my error, and the accompanying letter is his reply'. The signed response from Wise is brief: 'Dear Captain Pleadwell, Thanks for your note of the 15th inst. I quite understand the position'. Frank Lester Pleadwell (1872-1957) was an American naval surgeon, a medical historian, and collector of books and autographs. Partington's book, the first biographical and critical study of Thomas J. Wise, has been described as 'a bitter and unsympathetic biography of Wise' [Bloomfield]. It was later published in the UK (in 1946) as Thomas J. Wise in the Original Cloth. The appendix is a bibliography of Wise's works: 'compilations, privately printed publications, edited works, forgeries, piracies, etc'.