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Curses! Date Foiled Again!

long-time customer brought an side of the title page, was a copyright date
unusual book into my shop the of 1914. This was genuine, as Tarzan
Aother day and asked me to look was copyrighted in 1914, but what many
at the inscription on one of the front end- people don’t realize is that the copyright
papers. It was so poorly scribbled that at date is NOT necessarily the date a book
first, I couldn’t make out the words until I was printed as the date a book was copy-
saw that it appeared to be inscribed by righted was in fact a legal protection for a
Edgar Rice Burroughs the creator of certain period of time- I think it was 28
Tarzan, one of the most famous characters years back then, so every copy of Tarzan
in popular literature. As I stared at it the that was printed had to show the 1914
words coalesced to read “To William copyright date.
Merrard(?) and all of his kin From E.R. This is something that people not
Burroughs June 15, 1914.” William’s last familiar with books don’t know, so usually,
name was especially hard to read, but it when I get lists of books that people want
was the E.R. Burroughs signature that to sell, I have to ask them if the date they
was important. show for a book is the actual printed date of
Not remembering exactly what the book which if the book has one, would
Burrough’s signature looked like, I searched be at the bottom of the title page, or the
my autograph reference books and soon copyright date which as we have seen is not
found one in Charles Hamilton’s Signature always reliable for dating a book.
of America. And I guess I wasn’t too And another thing to look for is whose
surprised that it did not look much like the name the copyright was taken out in. Now
one in the book. this is not a 100% guarantee either, but
By the way, Tarzan was first published usually, if the name of the publisher listed
in book form by McClurg in 1914 so on the copyright page who took out the
another problem with this supposed signa- copyright is the same as the name of the
ture immediately presented itself because publisher listed on the title page, then
this copy of Tarzan was not the McClurg the book may well be a first edition, but
edition, but a cheapo reprint done by A.L. normally if these two names are different,
Burt which another reference book showed then the book is probably not a first
was not published until 1915! Only the edition. And this was the case with this
McClurg edition was available in 1914. copy of Tarzan. Remember that while
So not only was the signature bogus, but McClurg took out the copyright, this book
the date June 15, 1914, was bogus, too was not published by McClurg, but by A.L.
as the A.L. Burt edition did not exist in Burt who was known for doing inexpensive
1914; but even then, the McClurg edition reprints, so probably even ignoring the
wasn’t published until June 17, 1914, so no dates, almost any book done by A.L. Burt
edition was available on June 15, 1914. is likely NOT a first edition. I doubt if
And if that all wasn’t bad enough, look- A.L. Burt did any first editions. Another
ing at the ink the “autograph” was written publisher who specialized in doing mostly
with, I’d swear it was done with a ballpoint reprints was Grosset & Dunlap, who in fact
pen, not a fountain pen which someone did a reprint of Tarzan that was in print
would have used in 1914. Ballpoint pens from 1927 until probably the 1960s.
didn’t become popular until after WWII. So this copy not only had a fake
Fortunately, whoever faked this auto- autograph, but was in such poor condition
graph knew nothing about books. And as anyway, it was virtually unsaleable, but a
I’ve seen in other cases, sometimes the great item for show and tell.
forger outsmarts him or herself by trying to By comparison, someone currently
be cute and adding dates that turn out to has a genuine autographed first edition
be impossible. of Tarzan on AbeBooks for $4,800!
Likely what fooled the forger was that Quite a difference!
on the copyright page, which is the reverse

James Dawson has owned and operated the Unicorn Bookshop in Trappe, MD since 1975, when he decided that it would be more fun to buy and sell old books and maps than to get
a “real” job. For a born collector like Jim, having a shop just might be another excuse to buy more books. He has about 30,000 second hand and rare books on the shelves, and just
about all subjects are represented. He can be contacted at P.O. Box 154; Trappe, MD 21673; 410-476-3838; unicornbookshopMD@gmail.com; www.unicornbookshop.com

48 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles