Old Forgeries in Modern Libraries

Fakes and forgeries present distinctive problems to the management of special collections. Recent cases have demonstrated the interconnection between the production of modern fakes and issues of theft and security. However, much less attention has been paid to the subject of older antedated fakes that have, at one time or another, been acquired by libraries and cataloged as though they were authentic originals. This article provides an overview of the challenges presented by the inaccurate or partial cataloging of fakes, outlines useful methods for identifying such books, suggests how they might be most helpfully described in catalogs, identifies examples of good practice, and traces some of the curatorial opportunities that these books present. Improperly described, forgeries confuse library users, muddy the waters of scholarship, and weaken collection security. But when properly identified, they enable library users to approach a collection from new and unexpected angles.