The Mystery of 'the Death of Balder'. [ Working Paper No. 3 ]

Carter, J. ; Pollard, G.

Published by Distributed for the authors by B.H. Blackwell Ltd, Oxford, first edition, 1969, 1969

About this Item

Edition of 200 copies. Printed wrappers, 8vo, 21 pp, The "Mystery" is whether the purported 1889 book with the imprint "Ballantyne, Hanson & Co." is a Thomas James Wise forgery: Carter & Pollard examine the evidence in minute detail. From the introduction "since 1936, when Roland Baughman first identified the type face in this book, there has been a prima facie case for supposing that The Death of Balder was one of Wise s forgeries. Nonetheless thirty years of searching has not produced any tangible link between Wise and The Death of Balder. Moreover it differs from all the other forgeries in one important respect: it is (or at least used to be) a common book. It has never made double figures at auction; Wise never promoted Balder, and Gorfin had no stock of it. There is, in fact, no direct evidence that Wise had anything to do with it. So it becomes necessary to go back and ask whether the imprint is really false. If Ballantyne, Hanson & Co. did print the book, then they also possessed the type which we thought we had shown to be used exclusively by Richard Clay and Sons; and this would jeopardise the whole chain of evidence on which An Enquiry depended. It is thus a matter of some moment to discover the true origin of The Death of Balder, 1889: it is not a problem which we can afford to leave uninvestigated." Very Good. Seller Inventory # ABE-29756

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Mystery of 'the Death of Balder'. [ ...

Publisher: Distributed for the authors by B.H. Blackwell Ltd, Oxford, first edition, 1969

Publication Date: 1969

Binding: Soft cover

Edition: 1st Edition