Hardcover Fiction

Historical Note

The I, Libertine Hoax

In 1956, radio personality Jean Shepherd orchestrated one of the most audacious cons in publishing history. He instructed his late-night listeners to walk into bookshops and libraries and ask for a nonexistent book: I, Libertine by the equally nonexistent "Frederick R. Ewing." Demand reports from booksellers were enough to land it on regional bestseller lists — and eventually get it noticed by the NYT. Publisher Ian Ballantine called Shepherd's bluff and commissioned the book for real, hiring science fiction writer Theodore Sturgeon to write it in a weekend. It was published later that year, making the hoax self-fulfilling.