Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1908-01-24

This ingenious Publication Completely
Fooled the Savants and Bibiophi!es
Of Europe and Was the Literary SEN
sation of It's Day.
When P. T. Barnum cynically re-
marked that the American people
loved to be fooled he might just as
we'll have left out the adjective, for
that Americans are much more guilt
Bile than natives of other lands can
very readily be called into question by
anybody at all familiar with the his
tory Of hoaxdom. I suppose that for
pure effrontery and ingenious braZen-
ness the Fortsas Catalogue stands in
the front rank Of deception. Yet this
pamphlet was foisted not upon the
American public, but upon the sayants
and bfbiophiles of Europe-men skill
ed in the art of books and in the detec-
ton Of forgery. So cleverly was this
fraud conceived and executed that It
deserves to stand in the front rank of
any consideration. however brief, OF
clever receptions.
The Fortsas Catalogue was publish
ed in 1S40-a small book purporting to
be the catalogue Of the private library
of a certain Count j. N. A. de Fortsas
of Binche, in Belgium. Although the
book consisted Of but fourteen pages
and listed only ffty-two titles, it
stirred up Il veritable teapot tempest
among the wise heads. The reason
was not far to seek-not one of the
books mentioned in the catalogue was
to be found in any other library or
publishers list! They were all abso-
lutely 'sole surviving" copies Of in
tensely interesting works. In the
words of the catalogue itself, ''the
count pitilessIy expelled from his
shelves books for which he had paid
their weight in gold-as soon as he
learned that work up to that time
unknown had been mentioned in, any
catalogue. Each new research Of
learned Investigators into the book
lore Of. antiquity, it was claimed, had
thinned still further the already dec
inlated ranks of the counts sacred
battalion Weary of his tremendous
and self imposed task of collecting
only unique specimens, the count was
stated to have died on Sept. l, 1889,
and his library was now offered for
sale. Apparently the fraudulent char
acter of such master foolery was quite
patent. Yet the high brows ''bit" en-
Enthusiastically, and there resulted one
of the most amusing incidents Of the
decade.
Tor instantly the learned book lovers
were up in arms, each trying to Guido
his rival and secure for himself the
most precious Of the treasures at the
sale which was advertised. Orders
poured In from all over Europe on the
behalf of scholarly societies, libraries,
royal families and literary epicures.
One bookseller came all the way from
Amsterdam just to see No. Is, the
Corpus Juris Civilis." The Princess
de Ligne "for the honor Of her fami-
ly's ordered No. 4S at any price to sup
press 1t on account of certain discred-
table family episodes it was supposed
to contain Many other prominent per-
sons and institutions clamored for a
chance at the collection. 'Men re-
membered having seen books that new.
Ter existed says William Shepard
sFhe foreman In Casteman's printing
Office at Tourney had distinct recollec
lions of bogus volume credited to his
PRESS
Unfortunately the advertised sale
never came Off On the 9th of Au
gust the day before 1t was to have be
gun, the Brussels papers announced
that the town of Binche had determin
ed to keep the collection intact, by pur
chasing it with public funds. The
amusing part of this statement was
that Binche was most insignificant
village, quite unable to purchase much
Of anything, let alone universally de
sired library Still, even that state
,nent was believed.
=, The truth eventually transpired tina
the Count de Fortsas, his miraculou'
library and the catalogue were all tn
. creations Of an ingenious fellow named
Rene Chalons, living in Belgium. Hi
catalogue begot rather extensive lit
erature of its own. which has sine
been collected and published under tn
ritle Documents ct Particularites His
toriques sur lie Comte de Fortsas." 4
copy of the original catalogue nov
rests in the Congressional library a
Washington. Cincinnati Commercial
Tribune