The Forgery of Isaac Casaubon’s Name: Authority and The Originall of Idolatries

Abstract

When an unknown work by the late philologist Isaac Casaubon, The Originall of Idolatries, appeared in London in 1624, it did not quite receive the welcome its publisher had hoped for. Meric Casaubon immediately disputed his father’s authorship and published The Vindication or Defence of Isaac Casaubon, in which he argued - correctly - that the work was in fact a translation of an anonymous 16th century French pamphlet that had been deliberately misattributed to Isaac Casaubon by its translator, Abraham Darcie. This first study of the affair of The Originall shows that Darcie’s abuse of the name of one of the greatest early modern forgery hunters is particularly relevant in the context of authority. The various concepts, practices and traditions of authority associated with Isaac Casaubon and his patron King James VI and I as well as Darcie’s own role as a translator were in many ways crucial to the set-up of Darcie’s deceit and the effect The Originall of Idolatries might have had on unsuspecting readers. Meric Casaubon’s exposure of The Originall not only provides an astute analysis of Darcie’s methods and mistakes, but also addresses and reflects the perception of textual forgery in the early 17th century and its complex relationship with the concept of authority, in terms of deception as well as its detection.