Printed wrappers, all edges gilt. 8vo. 15 pp. A Thomas James Wise and Harry Buxton Forman forgery, which John Collins in "The Two Forgers" called "a badly researched fake". Some light pencil notes including at the end a Quaritch 'collated perfect' note initialled 'HC', and an auction reference: 'Lot 205 Hodgsons 9-6-30'.
A very good copy.
Wise and Forman printed a revised text of the poem and succeeded in establishing this as an 1887 first edition, but then had to deal in 1900 with the unexpected discovery of a genuine Macmillan first edition of the same year. Wise succeeded in spinning a complex yarn which maintained the forgery as the first edition, demoting the genuine macmillan first to second edition status. The story is explained in detail in Carter & Pollard's 'An Enquiry into the Nature of Certain Nineteenth Century Pamphlets'.
Carmen Saeculare — Alfred Lord Tennyson
Author
Alfred Lord Tennyson
Publisher
London: Printed For Private Distribution
Date
1887
