Stillie manuscripts

Description data TOP

unitid

{"value"=>"2777", "type"=>"local_mss"}

unittitle

{"value"=>"Stillie manuscripts"}

unitdate

{"value"=>"ca. 1889", "type"=>"inclusive", "certainty"=>"approximate", "normal"=>"1889"}

physdesc

{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>".5 linear foot (3 v.)"}], "supress_display"=>true}

date_inclusive_start

1889

date_inclusive_end

1889

origination

{"value"=>"Smith, Alexander Howland", "type"=>"persname"}

bioghist

{"value"=>"<p>Alexander Howland Smith, known as \"Antique\" Smith, was a forger from Edinburgh, Scotland. Before he was imprisoned in 1893, he had made hundreds of forged documents, in particular, letters and manuscripts of Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott.</p>", "supress_display"=>true}

custodhist

{"value"=>"<p>Collection was purchased from James Stillie, an Edinburgh bookseller by John S. Kennedy, president of the Lenox Library, in 1890. Kennedy presented the collection to the Lenox Library and the manuscripts were exhibited in December of that year. After several forgeries of Burns manuscripts were exposed in Edinburgh in 1892, the collection was sent to the British Museum for examination and the documents were found to be forgeries by \"Antique\" Smith. Manuscripts were returned to the Lenox Library and added to the collections of The New York Public Library after the consolidation of the Astor, Lenox, and Tilden collections.</p>"}

arrangement

{"value"=>"Volume 1: Scottish History; Volume 2, 3: Robert Burns"}

scopecontent

{"value"=>"<p>Collection known as the Stillie Manuscripts consists of 202 numbered forgeries. Volume 1 (items 1-49) contains documents related to Scottish history, including those signed by James VI, Charles I, Mary Stuart, and John Knox. Volumes 2 and 3 (items 50-202) contain forgeries of letters and manuscripts of Robert Burns. Complete list of the manuscripts in the three volumes can be found in the Lenox Library's Twenty-first Annual Report for the Year 1890 which accompanies Volume 1.</p>", "supress_display"=>true}

acqinfo

{"accession_number"=>"MSS 90M10"}

{"date"=>"1890", "materials"=>"202 items", "source"=>"Stillie, James", "address"=>"Edinburgh, Scotland", "method"=>"Purchase", "value"=>"202 items: Purchase, Stillie, James, 1890"}

bibliography

{"value"=>"<p>Discussed in: McDonald, Gerald D. \"Forgeries in the Library\". Bulletin of the New York Public Library, 41:623-628 (August 1937)</p>"}

note

{"value"=>"<p>A scrapbook of clippings from the Edinburgh Evening Dispatch regarding \"Antique\" Smith's forgeries and his trial as well as other forgeries by Smith can be found in the Rare Books & Manuscripts Division's Forgery Collection</p>", "encodinganalog"=>"500"}

keydate

1889

prefercite

{"value"=>"Stillie manuscripts, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library"}

abstract

{"value"=>"Alexander Howland Smith, known as \"Antique\" Smith, was a forger from Edinburgh, Scotland. Before he was imprisoned in 1893, he had made hundreds of forged documents, in particular, letters and manuscripts of Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott. Collection known as the Stillie Manuscripts consists of 202 numbered forgeries. Volume 1 (items 1-49) contains documents related to Scottish history, including those signed by James VI, Charles I, Mary Stuart, and John Knox. Volumes 2 and 3 (items 50-202) contain forgeries of letters and manuscripts of Robert Burns. Complete list of the manuscripts in the three volumes can be found in the Lenox Library's Twenty-first Annual Report for the Year 1890 which accompanies Volume 1.", "generated"=>true}

extent_statement

.5 linear feet (3 v.)

date_start

1889

date_end

1889

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