A Rum Affair: A True Story of Botanical Fraud, by Sabbagh, Karl
Inventory #: 00167
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A Rum Affair: A True Story of Botanical Fraud, by Sabbagh, Karl. Farrar, Straus and Giroux: New York, 2000. Edition: First Edition, stated.. ISBN: 0374252823. Hardcover, 6 by 8 1/2 inches, 276 pages. Quarter bound in dark green paper over light green paper-covered boards; gilt lettering on spine. B&W photographs; notes with bibliographic references; index.

Condition: Book: Fine. Spine ends very lightly bumped. Jacket: Near Fine. Very lightly rubbed.

Contents: From the jacket:

The mysterious Isle of Rum is one of the Inner Hebrides situated off the west coast of Scotland. Rugged, mountainous, and largely deserted, the island's brooding beauty and natural diversity attracted an eminent British botanist, John Heslop Harrison of Newcastle University. In the 1940s the professor announced the discovery of several species of rare plants on the island. These unusual finds helped make Heslop Harrison's mark as one of Britain's outstanding scientists, but they were also the latest in a series of discoveries that many botanists were beginning to suspect had been fabricated in order to enhance the professor's reputation.

In the interest of settling the matter once and for all, a young Cambridge don named John Raven managed to infiltrate one of Heslop Harrison's expeditions to Rum. The report he produced after that visit was stark and shocking, and on the basis of a detailed investigation of the alleged discoveries, Raven accused the professor of systematic and persistent fabrication of his evidence. Rumors of Raven's allegations began to circulate in botanical circles, but rather than allowing his suspicions to destroy the professor's career, Raven buried the report and let the rumors go unconfirmed.

In A RUM AFFAIR, Karl Sabbagh investigates for the first time Heslop Harrison's elaborate botanical hoax. Sabbagh interviews Raven's widow and unearths buried documents as he traces Raven's effort to uncover proof that the professor had transplanted the several species in question from his own garden. Along the way, Sabbagh explores the oddly congenial relationship between accuser and accused, detailing Raven's unusual attempts to keep his well-documented discoveries secret (the only public account of his investigation was a letter published in NATURE in 1949 that does not directly implicate Heslop Harrison) and to protect Heslop Harrison's children from being damaged by the accusations.

Like a skillful whodunit, A RUM AFFAIR allows the reader to savor each of its surprising revelations of hubris and chicanery as its tale unfolds among the exotic flora of Rum.