In 1794, William Henry Ireland "discovered" a trove of manuscripts by William Shakespeare — receipts, legal documents, love letters, even two complete plays and for more than a year all of literary London was abuzz about the new discoveries. One of the plays, Vortigern, was even presented on the stage, but eventually the whole story was revealed as a hoax, and Ireland was forced to recant. In fact he spent the rest of his life compulsively confessing to his youthful indiscretion, spinning out one account after another. And yet these "authentic accounts" often contain as many lies as the original fraud. Ireland’s Shakespeare forgeries continued through his whole life, and present endless challenges to literary scholars and bibliographers eager to make sense of the evidence that survives..
Jack Lynch will give a lecture on this scandal, "Authentic Accounts: William Henry Ireland Comes Clean," on Wednesday, February 1 at 6pm in Butler Library, room 523.
Mr. Lynch is Professor of English and Acting Associate Dean of Arts & Sciences at Rutgers University. He is the author of The Age of Elizabeth in the Age of Johnson and Deception and Detection in Eighteenth-Century Britain; he is now at work on a biography of Shakespeare forger William Henry Ireland.