Personal Recollections of an Irish National Journalist. Dublin: Figgis, 1883. Second Edition. Pp xii, 447. Green buckram boards, title in gilt to spine. A nice bright copy.

The author was the forger that figured in the Parnell versus The Times case. In 1879 Piggott was proprietor of three newspapers, which he soon sold to the Irish Land League, of which Parnell was president. Hitherto a violent Nationalist, Piggott now began to vilify his former associates and to sell information to their political opponents.

Piggott produced fake letters, which purported that Charles Stewart Parnell had supported one of the Phoenix Park murders. This move was designed to destroy Parnell’s career. In February 1889, the Parnell Commission then vindicated him by proving that the letters were forgeries. They included misspellings (specifically ‘hesitancy’) which Piggott had written elsewhere. A libel action that was instituted by Parnell also vindicated him, and his parliamentary career survived the Piggott accusations.