Oak Knoll

Second edition, revised, of this exhibition catalogue, undertaken after the initial print run of 500 copies of the first edition (2014) sold out by popular demand. This revised edition includes substantive changes in the front matter and initial chapter overview of the collection that have been informed by the robust growth of the collection up to the present day, and by the anticipated 2017 publication of a further scholarly volume of essays inspired by the collection, edited by Walter Stephens and Earle Havens of JHU, and written by an international cohort of a dozen leading forgery scholars.

In addition to providing a checklist of 70 treasures from the Arthur and Janet Freeman Bibliotheca Fictiva Collection, this beautifully illustrated volume includes five essays that explore the phenomenon of forgery as a creative literary form and provide an interesting and informative sense of the broader collection.

With nearly 1,700 individual items, the Bibliotheca Fictiva Collection is the largest and most comprehensive collection of books and manuscripts of forgery in the world. Highlights include editions of Jesus' posthumous "Letter from Heaven," eyewitness accounts of the Fall of Troy, annotated books from Shakespeare's personal library, Alpine inscriptions recording Noah's settlement of Vienna after the Flood, and a first-hand account of the discovery of Homer's tomb. The collection was assembled over a 50-year period and acquired by the Sheridan Libraries of Johns Hopkins University in 2011.

This volume is illustrated in color throughout and was designed by Scott J. Vile at the Ascensius Press.

Distributed for The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.