Description
Private printing of A Fictitious Paul Jones Masquerading as the Real by Mrs. Reginald De Koven.
Private printing of A Fictitious Paul Jones Masquerading as the Real by Mrs. Reginald De Koven. Octavo, 30pp. Green paper covers, stapled at spine and tied with cord. Solid text block, paper clip marks to last page and rear cover, faint toning to front cover, a very good example. With laid-in sheet indicating this pamphlet is a response to A.C. Buell’s biography of John Paul Jones. Tipped in errata slip on page 27. Some of the material in this pamphlet originally appeared in The New York Times in 1906, with Mrs. De Koven adding additional information several years later.
Anna de Koven (1862-1953), novelist, historian, and socialite, married composer Reginald de Koven in 1884 and published her works under his name. This pamphlet was written in response to the blatant fabrications A.C. Buell wrote in his biography of American Revolutionary War naval captain John Paul Jones. Buell often lied in his writing, and was arrested for an accusation of libel in 1876. Other writers grew in popularity for debunking Buell’s writing, including Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison, who won a Pulitzer Prize for John Paul Jones: A Sailor’s Biography.
