Waterbury evening Democrat., 1907-12-10
BOGUS MILTON BIBLE
Signatures of Poet and Wife
 Pronounced Forgeries. i
DEALER PAID $1,225 FOR IT.
Famous Book Was Part of BuckIer Collection Sold In New York Last Week-Buyer Expected to Dispose of 1t For $7,000 or $10,00O.

| IL Tor S/,uUu or $lu,uVu.
 New York, Dec. 10.-John Milton! Bible-the Bible that was believed t, have been the Bible of his old age ant the one that he used when he wrote Paradise LoSt''-it is now asserted was not Miltons Bible after all. Hand writing experts declare that the sigma lures of the immortal writer of epic verse as well as that of his third wife Elizabeth, are both forgeries.
 The so called Milton Bible, which has been pronounced genuine by nc less an authority than Dr. w. Aldis Wright, vice master of Trinity college Cambridge, perhaps the highest au thority on seventeenth century litera ture, was sold at auction in New York last week, the purchaser being George H. Richmond, a dealer ill rare books prints and autographs, of Thirty. fourth street and Fifth avenue. Mir Richmond paid $1,225 for the book, which he expected to dispose of at a profit of several thousand dollars.
 Expected Big Profit.
 The Milton Bible, which was brought to the United States by Dodd Mead & Co.,, was in the collection of rare books and manuscripts that belonged to Will liam H. Buckler of Baltimore, the sec retary of the American legation at Madrid. The .Buckler collection was sold at auction by the Anderson Auc- tion company of 5 West Twenty-ninth street last Tuesday, and the Milton Bible was catalogued as the rarest of the literary treasures offered for sale at that time. When the Bible was put up, MT. Richmond was the successful bidder. He had expected to sell it for a price anywhere from 1000 to $1O,- GOO.
 MT. Richmond took the book to his store in the Knickerbocker Trust con- pany building, and there it was, he says, that he became suspicious as to the genuineness of the volume. The signature of Milton on the back of the front cover is an inscribed signature, and the edges of the paper on which the signature was written had been shaved off, as is the custom when sig natures to rare books are inscribed. MT. Richmond said he noticed that the figure A" in the date '1654' overlap ped the shaded edges of the paper on which the signature was written, and he also noticed that the signature of Elizabeth Milton on the fly leaf of the New Testament appeared to be traced.
 Signatures Are Forseries.
 Mr. Richmond accordingly sent the book to David N. Carvalho, a hand writing expert, and asked him to study the Milton signatures and let him know if they were genuine. MT. Car valho did so and has informed Mir. Richmond that both signatures are forgeries. Tine signature of Milton's wife, Mr. Carvalho says, was first written in a black fluid which showed too plainly, and that then in order to make the signature appear ancient, as 1t should appear to be genuine, it had been traced over with lighter ink or perhaps a light water color print.
 The poets signature that is said tC be forgery is as follows: John Mil. ton, Feb. A, 1854" The signature of his wife, Elizabeth. also pronounced forgery, reads, ''Elizabeth Milton, 1864" It was also discovered that the paper of which the fly leaves in the book are made was probably manufac tured at greatly different dates. There are two fly leaves in the front of the book, one of them made of paper that Mir. Richmond says was probably man. ufactured during the time of Milton and the other perhaps a century later.
 A Rare Signature.
 Milton's alleged signature is written on a slip of paper measuring 3h by 2k inches, and it has been considered one of the excessively rare signatures of the poet after he became blind in 1853 or 1851. SOtheby, in his Rambling In the ElucidatiOn of the AutOgrap of Milton," declares the poet not only wrote his name correctly after he be- came blind. but that undoubtedly au. thentIc autographs of his. though few in number. are known after that pc riod, the last being attached to hi. marriage license with Elizabeth Min. shull. Feb. II. 1fG2.