Book Collectors and Their Libraries from Oak Knoll Books
Thomas Wise in his Ashley Library.
Item 22 is an outstanding bibliography, with one minor exception. It is The Ashley Library, eleven volumes describing the books in the collection of Thomas Wise. Published from 1922-1936, there were only 250 sets of this limited edition printed, and this is one of only 50 on hand-made paper. Now for the slight drawback. Wise is better known today for his forgeries than his collection or scholarship. A few of the antiquarian texts he created did not even exist before Wise invented them. Just as Wise sold these to unknowing collectors, he included them in the bibliography of his library, with no notation, of course, that they were fakes. $4,500.
For a more honest look at Thomas Wise, item 32 is Thomas J. Wise in the Original Cloth by Wilfred Partington. Published in 1946, this was the first critical biography of Mr. Wise, and this is a rare copy with the author's presentation. $300.
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