Vrain Denis-Lucas

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Vrain Denis-Lucas (1818 - ?) was a French forger who sold forged letters and other documents to French manuscript collectors. He even wrote purported letters from biblical figures using contemporary French.

Vrain Denis-Lucas was trained as a law clerk. By 1854 he had begun to forge historical documents, especially letters. Lucas begun by using writing materials and self-made inks from the appropriate period and forged mainly documents from French authors. He collected historical details from the Imperial library. As his forgeries were more readily accepted, he began to produce letters from historical figures.

In 1861 Lucas approached French mathematician and collector Michel Chasles and sold him forged letters between Boyle, Isaac Newton and Blaise Pascal. In one of them Pascal supposedly claimed that he had discovered the laws of gravity before Newton. Since this would have meant that a Frenchman would have discovered the gravity before an Englishman, Chasles accepted the letter and asked for more. Lucas proceeded to sell him hundreds of letters from historical and biblical figures - using contemporary French.

Over 16 years Lucas forged total of 27,000 autographs, letters, document and manuscripts from such luminaries as Cleopatra, Judas Iscariot, Pontius Pilate, Joan of Arc, Cicero and Dante Alighieri - written in contemporary French. He sold them to the most prominent French collectors and accumulated significant wealth of hundreds of thousands of francs.

In 1867 Chasles approached the French Academy of Science, claiming to have proof that Pascal had discovered gravity before Newton. When he showed them the letters, scholars of the Academy noticed that the handwriting was very different compared to letters that were definitely by Pascal. Chasles defended the letters' authenticity and was eventually forced to reveal that Lucas had sold them to him.

When Academy members complained about the anachronisms in the letters, Lucas had to forge more letters to explain away his earlier mistakes. Debate continued on to 1868 and the next year he was arrested for forgery. In the following trial Chasles had to testify how he had been duped, how he had purchased large numbers of other forged letters and how he had paid total of 140,000-150,000 francs for them.

In February 1870, the Correctional Tribunal of Paris sentenced Vrain Denis-Lucas for two years in prison for forgery. He had also pay Fr500 fine and all the legal costs. After his sentence Lucas disappeared from the public eye.

[edit] Books

• Henri Leonard Bordier and Emile Mabille - Une Fabrique de Faux Autographes, Ou Recit de L'Affaire Vran Lucas (Paris 1870, published in English as The Prince of Forgers)