Beware Of Hart Crane's Sombrero

by Stephen J. Gertz

Hart Crane sans sombrero.

Literary sombrero alert!

Hart Crane's sombrero rests in the University of Vermont Library's Special Collections. But is it really Hart Crane's sombrero? As it turns out, Hart Crane's Mexican hat dances under a cloud and is likely full of beans.

Last Tuesday, Booktryst's Alastair Johnston reported on finding a copy of W.H. Davies' Collected Poems (1916) with poet Hart Crane's bookplate and inscription to another. It was bogus; though the bookplate was real the signature was not.

"If you search the Internet, you can probably find several 'association copies' with Hart Crane's bookplate. A word of caution: After his death in 1932 Hart Crane's mother gave (or sold) some of his personal papers including a pile of Crane's bookplates to a bookseller in New York City. The dealer then pasted the bookplates in books chosen at random from his stock and misrepresented them as being from Crane's library. Not only was the dealer a crook, he was not too swift, as some of the bookplates were pasted in books published after Crane's death. 

"The dealer was Samuel Loveman, a forgotten poet, better known as a forger, who claimed to have been Hart Crane's lover. While a bookseller in New York, he sold books from Crane's library with a forged bookplate, as well as forging pencil signatures of Hawthorne, Melville and Twain" (Lew Jaffe, Bookplate Junkie).

"Samuel Loveman was born in 1887 in Cleveland, Ohio. An aspiring poet, Loveman left the Midwest in order to pursue his career as a writer and to live an openly gay lifestyle. He moved to New York City in the early 1920s where he made the acquaintance of several prominent authors including Ambrose Bierce, Hart Crane, and H.P. Lovecraft. Loveman owned a bookstore named the Bodley Bookshop in Manhattan with his partner David Mann. He wrote two books, The Hermaphrodite was a poem published in July 1926 and subsequently republished with additional poems in 1936 and Twenty-One Letters, a collection of letters sent to him by Ambrose Bierce. He also published The Sphinx in 1944. Loveman died in relative obscurity at the Jewish Home and Hospital in 1976" (Columbia University Libraries Archives).

Loveman, executor of Crane's estate, was his correspondent, very much so during the last four years of Crane's life, and after the poet's death he published Brom Weber's biography (1948) of the poet, who, on April 27, 1932, committed suicide by jumping off the rear deck of the ship that was returning him to the United States from Vera Cruz.

Crane had been living in Mexico 1931-1932 on a Guggenheim Fellowship so it's quite possible that he owned a sombrero. However...

Booktryst received the following Letter to the Editor from a bookseller who  had read Alastair's post.

"After reading about the Hart Crane bookplate, I thought you might enjoy the fact that I was, not long ago, given the task of appraising Hart Crane's sombrero. So how do we know that it actually belonged to Crane? There was a letter of authentication from Samuel Loveman, apparently signed as Crane's literary executor.

"The letter, dated July 23, 1962, was on the letterhead of the Bodley Book Shop, 550 Fifth Avenue, New York 36, NY.

"From the letter: '...sombrero...was originally in the possession of Hart Crane, and was worn by him during his stay in Mexico. It was among his effects when they were shipped after his death to the United States.'

"I, of course, took it at face value and assumed that everything and everyone were on the truthful side of things. After reading about Loveman and the bookplates, I'm beginning to wonder" (Name withheld).

You'd think that authentication by the executor of Crane's estate would be solid and unassailable but given the shenanigans of Loveman it can now be safely presumed that anything signed by Crane with his bookplate or relics purportedly owned by Crane are highly suspect and probably fraudulent until proven innocent.

Literary artifacts rest in dark waters and live and die on three principles: provenance, provenance, and provenance. Though it wasn't a literary relic,  I once spent a full week chasing down the emmis on Lola Montez's banjo. The banjo was right - of the period and top of the line by a famed 19th century banjo maker and preserved in a beautiful hand-made parqueted wood case one would expect to belong to a celebrated performer. A respected auction house and major bookseller had declared that the banjo had belonged to Lola Montez but provided no information to back the story up, which, it turned out, I could not substantiate at all; there was not even the slightest hint of her ownership to be found and I was in full sherlock. 

One day I expect someone, somewhere to offer a pair of Charles Bukowski's jockey shorts for sale. Unless they are autographed by Bukowski with an authenticated signature I'd stay away from them, no matter how stained and redolent they are of beer, booze, cheap wine and corner bars.

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Autograph In The Rue Morgue: A Tell-Tale Poe Forgery

By Stephen J. Gertz

The signature in question.

Poe used two styles of handwriting, a fluent script in his letters to intimate friends, and a painstakingly legible hand in his formal letters and the manuscripts he prepared for publication. Poe's is the most avidly sought of American literary autographs. Anything in his hand, signed or unsigned, commands an awe-inspiring price (Charles Hamilton, Collecting Autographs and Manuscripts, p. 116).

Hamilton's samples.

It was Pavlov's dog-time when a beautifully rebound first edition copy of Poe's Tales (1845) landed on my desk with a breathtaking slip tipped-in to one of the preliminary blanks.

The slip was addressed, To Col. Richard B. Mason / Holmes Island / Lustrins Calf., and signed, in the lower left corner, From Edgar A. Poe.

Mother of Mercy!

Then I looked closely and my salivary glands withered like grapes into raisins.

The tipped-in slip.

First, the hand that wrote the signature and that which addressed the slip are completely different, beyond those variations noted by Hamilton. The address bears little if any resemblance to samples of Poe's casual or formal penmanship. Poe did not write that address.

Authenticated examples of Poe's signature.
Note informal style at center. Courtesy of TomFolio.

Furthermore, it makes no sense that, if Poe had written the address, he would have used his formal and painstakingly written signature as sender. He would have likely used his informal autograph as seen above at center. Note, too, that, based upon authentic samples, when Poe wrote his formal signature he invariably added a final, usually decorative, underline. That flourish is absent from this formal autograph.

Authentic Poe letter.
Courtesy of Bauman's Rare Books.

But more than the general differences in handwriting, the weird mix of formal and informal styles on the same slip, and the absence of an underscore to the signature, there is a nearly invisible sign that this autograph was obviously monkeyed with. The lower left corner of the slip upon which  the Poe autograph is found has been washed. It is not obvious unless viewed at the proper angle in the right light. When the slip was recently photographed it was lit so that the washing would be apparent.

Detail of signature from above letter.

This copy of Tales was rebound c. 1920s by Curtis Walters of New York. That approximate date of rebinding, when the slip was likely tipped-in, provides a tantalizing possibility about the origin of this forgery. It suggests that it was the work of Martin Coneely, aka Joseph Cosey (1887-?1950).

Joseph Cosey.

At some point during the early 1920s Cosey visited the Library of Congress and stole a pay warrant signed by Benjamin Franklin dated 1786. Shortly thereafter and broke, he attempted to sell the document to a dealer. The dealer rejected it, claiming it to be a fake. Indignant, Cosey went home and carefully, after studying examples, forged Abraham Lincoln's signature and presented it to the same dealer, who bought it. Cosey felt triumphant.

Franklin, Lincoln, and Poe became his favorite subjects; Cosey had a deep affection for Poe's work. Cosey was good, very, very good. He used period ink, paper, and writing instruments. It is known that he used modern chemicals to treat paper when necessary.

I strongly suspect that this example of Poe's signature to this addressed slip was the work of Cosey, perhaps an early exercise at a time when Poe autograph and manuscript material was hot (it still is),  he was beginning to experiment with paper-treating chemicals, and curious about what he could get away with. 

Part of Cosey's genius was that when he offered his work he never claimed it to be authentic; he left it up to the buyer to decide. If the work was subsequently judged to be faked he was in the clear; it was the dealers who erred in their evaluation. I imagine that he offered this early exercise as a test to see if it would fly. It, apparently, did. At the time the unknown duped buyer (perhaps Walters, or the bookseller or collector who commissioned the binding) purchased it autograph and manuscript forensics were in adolescence, few dealers had deep experience with Poe autograph material (there was not much genuine material recorded at the time - nor now), and the quest for Poe material likely blinded those involved to err on the side of hope.

Authenticated Poe addressed envelope.

All forgers have a "tell,' something that gives them away. For Cosey, it was the simple fact that signatures evolve over time. He was appending Franklin autographs forged from samples from early in Franklin's life to documents written later when Franklin's handwriting had deteriorated. His Lincoln forgeries were revealed by "A. Lincoln" being on the same plane; genuine Lincoln signatures have "Lincoln" slightly raised above the initial "A."

Authentic Poe manuscript sample.Courtesy of Cornell University.

In the hierarchy of autograph material an author's direct signature to one their books is valued higher than a tipped-in envelope with autograph. A tipped-in "clipped" signature (the autograph excised from an original document) is valued even lower. If this tipped-in slip with autograph had been authentic it would have likely added at least $5,000 to the book. As it turns out, because of his notoriety, skill, and chutzpah, Coesy forgeries have become collectible in their own right. There remain samples not yet firmly identified, and this may be one of them.

If it can be firmly attributed to Cosey it may add $500-$750 to the book's market value.

At this point, however, what we have is a very interesting and lovely first edition of Poe's Tales with an obviously fake autograph, one that may be significant as an early example in the development of a notorious master forger.

It's certainly not the story I hoped for when I first laid eyes upon this copy of Poe's Tales. But it's still a pretty good one, a latter-day Poe tale of mystery and imagination.

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Vintage Novelty Nutcase Dust Jackets

by Stephen J. Gertz

MAKANEZBUCK, Charlie. Learn Counterfeiting At Home.
The Print Press, 1959.

"Leister Game Company was first started by Reginald S. Leister in the basement of his home in 1933. He created Unique Golfer Novelties that are World Famous for over 75 years & some of the Funniest Novelty Gag Gifts Ever ! ! ! ! ! " (from their website).

Its current catalog includes Over the Hill Crotch Washers, Goofy Golf Balls, Hot Flash Fans, Polish Parking Only signs, Big Dave's Lucky Fishing Towels, Rubber Chickens, Grand Champion Bullshitter Award Ribbons, Condom Swizzle Sticks, Hillbilly Teeth, Visitor Planet Earth Parking Permits, Whoopee Cushions, Pet Farts, Bull Pens (desk set w/pen inserted into cowpie - "For the executive with a sense of humor"), Adults Only Risque Items, etc. The laffs never stop! The yuks won't quit!

In 1959, the company produced a series of novelty dust jackets. Reginald S. tells the tale:

(Image appropriately askew).

Should your checking account be populated by gnats and you need a little cash why not help yourself to five-to-ten, courtesy of the Department of Corrections?

BADCHECK, Pasha. Forgery Self-Taught.
Doubleor Nuthin, 1959.

Or, if a career as a highly skilled thief appeals to you, how 'bout this recent selection from Oprah's Book Club?

SWINDLER, Ronnie G. So You Want To Be A Safecracker.
Sing Sing Press, 1959.

The cost of health care has never been higher. If amateurs were allowed to practice medicine the magic of unfettered free market capitalism would drive doctors' fees down. Triple-bypass? Only $39.95 at Earl's Chop Shop.

SUTURE, Dr. Rudyard. Surgery...A Profitable Hobby.
Medical Press, 1959.
"All 20 Chapters of This Book, with an Extra Large Appendix,
Are Guaranteed to Keep You in Stitches"

Psychiatric treatment has become de rigueur for every red-blooded American concerned about having their head explode, ala David Cronenberg's SCANNERS, during political hunting season. Leister Game & Novelty Company was on the cutting edge of the trend:

BATTURE NOGGIN, Dr. U. Head Shrinking for the Beginner.
Missionary Press, 1959.

Below, Leister, pointedly yet with blunt pen, addresess the Civil Rights movement but the humor (such as it is) is very dark and one must read the rear panel text to "get" it: the author is an ignorant cracker, a seventh-grade drop-out in a Southern town where the role of village idiot rotates amongst its citizenry.

DUKES, P. "Biff". Lynching As a Community Project.
Simon and Rooster, 1959.

This dust jacket is a discomforting Strange Fruit hanging from the poplar book tree, and a reminder of an American sin that remains an indelible stain upon the flag. In 1959, only Lenny Bruce had the satiric chops to successfully riff on lynching, and he didn't think it was funny.

“I’ve been accused of bad taste, and I’ll go down to my grave accused of it and always by the same people, the ones who eat in restaurants that reserve the right to refuse service to anyone. I’m sorry I haven’t been funny. I am not a comedian. I am Lenny Bruce.”

Should your funny bone be completely disarticulated and your liver squirt bile by the above, recourse is provided by the below:

O'REILLY, Patrick J. How To Start a Riot.
Tripleday, 1959.

Feeling crafty?

SKINEMWELL, Dr. Ronald. 101 Things to Make With Human Skin.
Medical Hobby Press, 1959.

You may have noticed that authors Charlie Makanezebuck, Pasha Badcheck, Ronnie G. Swindler, Dr. Rudyard Suture, Dr. U. Batture Noggin, P. "Biff" Dukes, Patrick J. O'Reilly, and, presumably Dr. Ronald Skinemwell (no image for rear panel) bear a remarkable resemblance to one another. While I am not certain, I strongly suspect that the model is the ol' novelty gagster himself, Reginald S. Leister. The rubber chicken was otherwise engaged.

Don't miss this opportunity "to amaze and amuse your friends and party guests with a new and different form of subtle humor"!

Clearly, sophomores were - and are still - running the show at Leister. Exhibit A: Beer Boobs, breast-shaped beverage can toppers to drink through. Party on!

Complete sets of the Leister Game Company's Comic Book Jackets are scarce, and we don't  know  the total number of titles actually issued; in addition to the examples above, I've seen references to authors Archie Fastbuck, Ron Nofunds, Wendie Barroom. Fannie Paychek, Oscar Flugle, Edgar Penman, and Hubert Updike in connection with Leister DJs but not the covers themselves; they may have never been produced.

Individual DJs appear from time to time on EBay, etc. but rarely in fine condition. I saw the most complete set to come to market in a long time - and in beautiful condition - at the recent Santa Monica Book Fair, offered by Book Hunter's Holiday, Chris Bunje Lowenstein's online rare book shop, which, if you've yet to visit, I encourage you stop by and browse.

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Each dust jacket:

Toledo, Ohio: Leister Game Co., Inc., 1959. 8 1/2" x 21". Color printed dustjacket complete with illustrated front cover, "author" photo and "publicity endorsements" on the back cover. Designed by Roger Crawford. Photography by Emily A. Leister (née Worcester), Reginald's wife.

Images courtesy Book Hunter's Holiday with the exception of 101 Things to Make With Human Skin, which is provided by Joseph Valles - Books.
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