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The Poet
and the Murderer: A True Story of Literary Crime and the Art of Forgery
by Simon Worrall Rating: •• (Mildly Recommended) |
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Click on title or picture to buy from amazon.com |
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Master Manipulator Simon Worrall’s new book, The Poet
and the Murderer, takes readers on a journey into the world of forgery.
He tracks the sale of a phony Emily Dickinson poem from the buyer back to the
forger. Along the way, we learn a lot about forgery and the guarantee that
auction houses make about what they offer (caveat emptor). The master forgerer
and convicted murderer, Mark Hofmann, fooled academics and forensic experts
with the presentation of a fifteen line Emily Dickinson poem that he wrote
and forged in an expert reproduction of her handwriting, ink, and paper.
Along the journey, we learn a lot about the Mormon Church, to which Hofmann
sold numerous fake documents, and traded in authentic documents. By the end
of the book, we learn that Hofmann forged the writing of 129 different people
and at least 1,000 documents. Here’s an excerpt: “To create the
Anthon Transcript, Hofmann developed a technique that would become one of the
hallmarks of his art: the use of ammonium peroxide and other chemicals to age
ink. This turned it brown, giving the appearance of age. He was also extremely
careful about preparing the paper. Over time paper become cracked and porous.
If fresh ink is applied to it, it will soak into the fibers like blotting
paper, creating a ‘feathering’ effect, which can easily be spotted during forensic
analysis. To avoid this Hofmann dipped the paper he used for the Anthon
Transcript in a hot gelatin solution, which prevented the ink from running
while he drew the hieroglyphs. After he had drawn them, he then washed the
gelatin off and treated the ink with hydrogen peroxide. To create the
mottled, rustlike damp patches that frequently appear on old documents, known
as foxing, he sprayed the finished manuscript with milk and gelatin, then
heated it with an iron. He also used a household iron to make the acid in the
paper on which the transcript was written bleed into the pages of the Bible,
turning them brown, as they would over time.” Worrall makes the story of each chapter
propel the reader into a desire to learn more, and find out what happened,
making this book something of a page turner and thriller. The presence of a
few lazy errors that were obvious to me, and should have been to an editor, caused
the rating to drop a star, and left me wondering how accurate this
interesting story is. Aside from the distracting errors, The Poet
and the Murderer, tells an engaging story about a talented criminal and
how many of us want to believe even that which we find suspect. Steve Hopkins, June 5, 2002 |
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ã 2002 Hopkins and Company, LLC The
recommendation rating for this book appeared in the July 2002
issue of Executive
Times Hopkins
& Company, LLC • 723 North Kenilworth Avenue • Oak Park, IL 60302 E-mail: books@hopkinsandcompany.com |
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