The Right Honourable The Lord George Gordon Byron (English, 1788-1824), poet and politician, in an 1824 portrait by Thomas Philipps (1770-1845).

NJ museum’s Lord Byron letter turns out to be fake

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The Right Honourable The Lord George Gordon Byron (English, 1788-1824), poet and politician, in an 1824 portrait by Thomas Philipps (1770-1845).

The Right Honourable The Lord George Gordon Byron (English, 1788-1824), poet and politician, in an 1824 portrait by Thomas Philipps (1770-1845).

MORRISTOWN, N.J. (AP) – It turns out a nearly 200-year-old letter donated to a New Jersey museum wasn’t written by English Romantic poet Lord Byron.

The National Historical Park in Morristown received the letter more than 50 years ago from a banker and collector.

The letter’s authenticity came into doubt when Drew University began planning a large Byron exhibit. The park’s chief of cultural resources Jude Pfister offered the letter.

The Star-Ledger of Newark reports the university shared the letter with an expert at the New York Public Library. She found problems with the salutation, signature and content.

The letter appears to have been written 50 years after Byron’s death in 1824. The author remains a mystery.

The museum is considering an exhibit on forged documents.

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Information from: The Star-Ledger, http://www.nj.com/starledger

Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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