Methods
Howland Smith began his forging career in the 1880s in Edinburgh. Scotland. At first, he began to visit second hand bookshops and bought all kinds of old books with blank fly leaves. He always carried them home himself, a habit that some bookshop owners thought unusual, since the books were old and heavy. When these materials ran out, he resorted to modern paper.
Smith began to sell his forgeries in 1886 and continued for the next five years. He sold them to bookshops, auctions and pawnshops, usually at modest prices.
Smith forged manuscripts from various historical people, such as Mary, Queen of Scots, Oliver Cromwell and Sir Walter Scott. Smith forged the signatures without tracing the originals. He created poems, autographs and historical letters. He made the documents appear old by dipping them in weak tea.
Afterwards experts said that the forgeries were very clumsy and should have not deceived anyone. Letters were dated wrongly, sometimes after the death of their supposed writer, and had been written on modern paper with new writing implements.
Read more about this topic: Alexander Howland Smith
Famous quotes containing the word methods:
“How can you tell if you discipline effectively? Ask yourself if your disciplinary methods generally produce lasting results in a manner you find acceptable. Whether your philosophy is democratic or autocratic, whatever techniques you use—reasoning, a “star” chart, time-outs, or spanking—if it doesn’t work, it’s not effective.”
—Stanley Turecki (20th century)
“Parents ought, through their own behavior and the values by which they live, to provide direction for their children. But they need to rid themselves of the idea that there are surefire methods which, when well applied, will produce certain predictable results. Whatever we do with and for our children ought to flow from our understanding of and our feelings for the particular situation and the relation we wish to exist between us and our child.”
—Bruno Bettelheim (20th century)
“The philosopher is in advance of his age even in the outward form of his life. He is not fed, sheltered, clothed, warmed, like his contemporaries. How can a man be a philosopher and not maintain his vital heat by better methods than other men?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)