WHISTLER, James McNeill (1834-1903) - Sheridan FORD (d. 1922, editor). The Gentle Art of Making Enemies, New York [?but Antwerp], 1890, contemporary full vellum. Pirated Edition.

WHISTLER, James McNeill (1834-1903) - Sheridan FORD (d. 1922, editor).  The Gentle Art of Making Enemies. "New York" [?but Antwerp]: "Frederick Stokes and Brother" [but pirated]. 8vo (172 x 110mm). Contemporary [?or original] full vellum, the upper cover lettered in red, the lower cover with a variant of Whistler's monogram stamped in red, top edges gilt, others uncut, marbled endpapers. Provenance: Caleb Margerison (bookplate). PIRATED EDITION, with a false imprint, of which most copies were seized and destroyed, in an unrecorded full vellum binding. "As custom would sanction, in a work of this character a complacent boast touching the sometime soulful intimacy between Mr Whistler and myself [i.e. Sheridan Ford], I may point out that nothing of the kind existed. The reader might otherwise be pardoned a casual inference that we were on terms of commonplace amity and acquiescence. I commend the book to Mr Whistler's enemies, with the soothing assurance that should each of them purchase a copy the edition will be exhausted in a week" (from the editor's opening "Note", which sets the acerbic and ironic tone for the reviews of Whistler's work, and his replies, which constitute the book).