Robert Spring, a 19th century forger, was so good at his profession that he was able to make his living for 15 years
by selling false signatures of famous Americans. Spring was born in England in 1813 and arrived in Philadelphia in 1858
to open a bookstore. At first he prospered by selling his small but genuine collection of early US autographs. Discovering
his ability at copying handwriting, he began imitating signatures of George Washington and Benjamin Franklin and
writing them on the title pages of old books. To lessen the chance of detection, he sent his forgeries to England and
Canada for sale and circulation.
Forgers have a hard time selling their products. A forger can’t approach a respectable buyer but must deal with
people who don’t have much knowledge in the field. Forgers have many ways to make their work look real. For example,
they buy old books to use the aged paper of the title page, and they can treat paper and ink with chemicals.
In Spring’s time, right after the Civil War, Britain was still fond of the Southern states, so Spring invented a
respectable maiden lady known as Miss Fanny Jackson, the only daughter of General “Stonewall” Jackson. For several
years Miss Fanny’s financial problems forced her to sell a great number of letters and manuscripts belonging to her
famous father. Spring had to work very hard to satisfy the demand. All this activity, which did not prevent Spring from
dying in poverty, left sharp-eyed experts the difficult task of separating his forgeries from the originals.
【題組】46 Why did Spring sell his false autographs in England?
(A) There was a greater demand there than in America. (B) There was less chance of being detected there.
(C) Britain was Spring’s birthplace. (D) The prices were higher there.
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