HOAXES AND SCAMS A Compendium of Deceptions, Ruses and Swindles

Hardback. Featuring an exhaustive collection of the world's most devilish money-making schemes and elaborate practical jokes. The book details the origins and methods of numerous classic scams - from the age-old shell game to cash machine swindles of today - and supplies biographical information on a range of shady characters who took advantage of the avaricious and the gullible for years, including notorious imposters (Count Alessandro di Cagliostro), master swindlers (Charles Ponzi and "Yellow Kid" Weil), brilliant forgers (Louis Marcy) and renowned spiritualist fakers (Daniel D. Home and the Fox sisters). Here's just a sampling of the slippery dealings and ruses investigated : Mass-produced Millet and Corot art forgeries; musical masterpieces "discovered" by Fritz Kreisler; mysterious sightings of Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster; phony snake-oil cures for arthritis; the real authors of "Hitler Diaries"; reports of wild animals ravaging New York City; rumours of Paul McCartney's "death" plus much, much more. Illus. 293pp. 4to. h/back. From the library of true crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. F. in F. dw. A fairly heavy book which will require additional postage.