The Shakespeare Thefts by Eric Rasmussen

Author:Eric Rasmussen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Published: 2011-01-28T16:00:00+00:00

(The Drayton mentioned here was Michael Drayton, a friend of Shakespeare’s; John Ward, an early vicar of Stratford-upon-Avon, is the source for the anecdotal story of Shakespeare’s death: “Shakespear, Drayton and Ben Jonson had a merry meeting, and it seems, drank too hard, for Shakespear died of a feavour there contracted.” The Roxburghe Club in London is the oldest bibliophile society in the world. Its elite membership is limited to forty, chosen from among those with only the most “distinguished libraries or collections.”)

But what did Rider do with the Fiske Harris copy? The truth is as murky as the bottom of Moosehead Lake. After the canoeing accident, Harris’s cousin, Rhode Island senator Henry Bowen Anthony, negotiated the purchase of Caleb Fiske Harris’s entire collection from Rider. Anthony, known as the “Father of the Senate,” was then the longest-serving U.S. senator and universally revered as a pillar of wisdom and stability in the unsettled times that followed the American Civil War. He made a discovery after his dealings with Rider: Many key volumes from the Fiske Harris library were missing, including the First Folio. When questioned, Rider replied, perhaps intentionally vaguely, that he had sold the Shakespeare folio in 1883 to someone “in Kentucky.”5

Now, this could be true. There are many instances of wealthy people requesting anonymity when they buy a First Folio. But here’s the rub: A First Folio similar to the Fiske Harris copy eventually wound up in the hands of the Astor family, the wealthy owners of New York’s celebrated Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Since Rider was notorious in the world of book dealing for his unscrupulous practices, it seems possible that he saw an opportunity to make a personal profit and sold the volume to the Astor family on the sly, then simply fabricated an unnamed individual in Kentucky.

We don’t know which Astor made the initial purchase. Here is what Sir Sidney Lee and my team have uncovered: Caleb Fiske Harris’s entire collection of books was placed in the hands of Rider to be sold. In 1883, the book (according to Rider) was sold to a purchaser “in Kentucky.” The next possible owner is identified only as “Lord Astor.” This is vague; it can apply to any number of members of the Astor family who bore this title during the twentieth century. If the volume was acquired prior to the Astor family moving from America to England in 1891, the first Astor owner would have been William Waldorf Astor, first Viscount Astor.

This is where it gets tricky. We have no idea if William Waldorf Astor was the actual purchaser. But it is an educated guess, going back from the next confirmed owner, the dealer John Fleming. If the book remained in the Astor family until Fleming acquired it, then the chain of ownership would be (after William Waldorf Astor): Waldorf Astor, second Viscount Astor; William Waldorf Astor, third Viscount Astor; and William Waldorf Astor, fourth Viscount Astor. What is certain is that at some point Fleming acquired the Astors’ copy and sold it to Meisei University in 1985.

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