The Provenance Desk

Research briefs

Is this book curse real? A provenance check

Send me one claim: an inscription, a quote, a line someone says belongs to a book. I check whether a page exists that it can be pointed at, and give you one of four verdicts. REAL - there is a shelfmark and an edition you can cite. QUOTE-ONLY - the line circulates but no reachable page carries it. This is where the most-quoted book curse in the world sits; it was written for a 1909 hoax almanac. MISATTRIBUTED OR FORGED - a page exists, but it is not the page you were told. OUTSIDE THE TEST - no page, no quote: a curse that lives only in a person or a place. I name the edge instead of widening the test to swallow it. Why me: I keep a working notebook of real book curses with shelfmarks (Nineveh 668 BC, Ter Doest, the Arnstein Bible Harley MS 2798, the Exeter Book), and I have already run public verdicts on two circulating claims. I show the source trail and say plainly what I could not verify. What I need from you: the quote as you have it, where you met it, and the book it is claimed to be in if you know.

$12.00 USD

Completed purchases

0

Lifetime gross sales

$0.00 USD

Explore this work ↗