The Book Forger
The true story of a literary crime that fooled the world
Published on 7. August 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
336 pages
978-1-5299-3144-0 (ISBN)
Description
'A page-turner about page-turners' Janice Hallett
'The perfect piece of armchair detection' Ruth Ware
'Hugely entertaining and unexpectedly gripping' London Review of Books
A true detective story from the age of Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers: the literary crime that fooled the world - and the daring young booksellers who uncovered it
London, 1932. Thomas James Wise is the toast of the literary establishment. A prominent collector and businessman, with friends in high places, he is one of the most powerful men in the field of rare books.
One night, two young booksellers stumble upon a strange discrepancy leading them to suspect Wise and his books are not all they seem. Inspired by the vogue for Hercule Poirot and Sherlock Holmes, the pair harness the latest developments in forensic analysis to crack the case. By the time they are done, their investigation will have rocked the book world to its core.
'A thrilling unravelling of bookish fraud that reads like a detective story from the golden age' Roland Philipps, author of A Spy Named Orphan
'Hone is a lively and fluent writer, ratcheting up the temperature with snappy sentences and chapters ending on cliffhangers' Sunday Telegraph
'The perfect piece of armchair detection' Ruth Ware
'Hugely entertaining and unexpectedly gripping' London Review of Books
A true detective story from the age of Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers: the literary crime that fooled the world - and the daring young booksellers who uncovered it
London, 1932. Thomas James Wise is the toast of the literary establishment. A prominent collector and businessman, with friends in high places, he is one of the most powerful men in the field of rare books.
One night, two young booksellers stumble upon a strange discrepancy leading them to suspect Wise and his books are not all they seem. Inspired by the vogue for Hercule Poirot and Sherlock Holmes, the pair harness the latest developments in forensic analysis to crack the case. By the time they are done, their investigation will have rocked the book world to its core.
'A thrilling unravelling of bookish fraud that reads like a detective story from the golden age' Roland Philipps, author of A Spy Named Orphan
'Hone is a lively and fluent writer, ratcheting up the temperature with snappy sentences and chapters ending on cliffhangers' Sunday Telegraph
Reviews / Votes
'This is an absolutely fascinating literary detective story. Real-life audacious crimes uncovered by the most intrepid amateur detectives, investigated all over again a hundred years later here, in delicious forensic detail, by Joseph Hone. A must-read for anyone enthralled by the value and integrity of books. A page turner about page turners' * Janice Hallett, author of The Alperton Angels * 'I loved this elegant untangling of a real-life literary mystery. With a cast stretching from Robert Browning to Dorothy L Sayers, it's the perfect piece of armchair detection for any book lover' * Ruth Ware, author of The Woman in Cabin 10 * 'Joseph Hone's hugely entertaining new account shows how this 'Moriarty of the book world' met his match in a duo of intrepid young book dealers ... The Book Forger unfolds as a propulsive if unlikely thriller [and] also a useful reflection on literary forgery in general, which speaks to our own era of post-truth and deepfakes ... Unexpectedly gripping' * Gill Partington, LRB * Hone... [is] a dexterous guide and an astute contributor to the long tradition of writers gripped by the connection between bibliography and crime * Times Literary Supplement * 'An extraordinary story, meticulously researched and beautifully written. Utterly enthralling' * Shaun Bythell, author of The Diary of a Bookseller * Hone is a lively and fluent writer, ratcheting up the temperature with snappy sentences and chapters ending on cliffhangers * Sunday Telegraph * 'A thrilling unravelling of bookish fraud that reads like a detective story from the golden age' * Roland Philipps, author of A SPY NAMED ORPHAN * Fascinating... For all the thrills and shenanigans, the forensics and meticulous detail, this is a curiously moving book * Scotland on Sunday * 'Criminally sophisticated skulduggery . . . A thoroughly enjoyable romp through an infamous moment in book history' * Oliver Darkshire, author of ONCE UPON A TOME * Meticulously researched... The Book Forger is delightfully and unapologetically bookish, offering glimpsed portraits of significant behind-the-scenes literary figures * Spectator *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Vintage Publishing
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 197 mm
Width: 131 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
242 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5299-3144-0 (9781529931440)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
03/2024
Vintage Digital
€9.49
Available for download
Person
Joseph Hone is a prize-winning writer and academic specialising in the history of the book. He studied and taught at Oxford, before holding fellowships at Cambridge, Harvard, and Yale. He is the author of The Paper Chase, which was longlisted for the HWA Non-Fiction Crown, and The Book Forger, publishing in 2024. In 2022 he was awarded the Philip Leverhulme Prize in Languages and Literatures. He lives in Newcastle with his wife and son, and spends much of his time either on the coast or scrabbling around in second-hand bookshops.