First edition, first impression. xii, 196pp, with one section of black and white plate illustrations. Black publisher's cloth-covered boards, gilt-stamped lettering on the spine. 8vo. Cloth slightly pushed at spine ends else neat, clean, bright and tight throughout. In its original shelf worn dust wrapper, a little bumped along extreme edges.
The sensational story of one of the most versatile forgers of all time - Dossena's creations in marble, bronzer and terracotta were in many important institutional collections before he was exposed as a fraud. By the time of his death in 1937, it was estimated that collectors had paid over $3 million for his output, and yet he died a poor man in a charity hospital, and the real villains of the story are the middle-men, the dealers, who were never slow to play shady tricks in a corrupt world.
