Whitman Publishing recently announced Bob McCabe’s upcoming release, Counterfeiting and Technology: A History of the Long Struggle Between Paper-Money Counterfeiters and Security Printing, is slated to debut Sept. 20.
The 480-page narrative examines the origins and development of paper and printing and the formation of U.S. engraving companies, particularly within Philadelphia, as well as the measures taken by the Secret Service and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing against counterfeiting. McCabe also details the folks who bolstered their careers through forgeries that ultimately (albeit inadvertently) encouraged new technology.
Larry Adams, curator of Iowa’s Higgins Museum of National Bank Notes, wrote the foreword to Counterfeiting and Technology: “Bank notes have affected nearly every aspect of our lives and history, yet few people know anything about the art and science of this work, which, due to its nature, is shrouded in mystery. McCabe has traveled to many of the largest cities in the eastern United States to ferret out original materials in libraries, museums, historical societies, and theNational Archives to document this story, and from that material he has woven the fabric of a tale full of heroes and villains acting out their roles on the stage of American history.”
In what’s described as an “engaging and informative” book, Counterfeiting and Technology offers a unique look – combining science, art, invention and adventure – at the history of paper money in America.
“Often the very men who attempted to counterfeit the currency of the time pushed innovators to greater refinements, always seeking designs and securities that fell in line with the highest form of the art,” said Whitman Senior Associate Editor Caitlyn Trautwein. “Comparisons between genuine and counterfeit bills and explanations as to what methods the counterfeiters used to do their work are recalled with such acumen that one could believe McCabe was actually there, interviewing the men himself.”