The Man Who Loved Books Too Much (28 page)

1
This is a common misconception, stemming probably from the fact that his 1876
The Hunting of the Snark
is one of the earliest books by a famous author for which the jacket still exists. Earlier jackets from the 1830s by relatively unknown authors are still around.

2
Ken Sanders. Interview with the author.

3
Arnold Herr. Interview with the author.

4
Kenneth Munson. Interview with the author.

5
Ibid.

6
Confirmed as standard procedure for prisoners residing in the Reception Center by San Quentin State Prison public information officer Lieutenant Samuel Robinson.

1
John Crichton. Interview with the author.

1
Andrew Clark. Interview with the author.

2
Alan Beatts. Interview with the author.

3
Bob Gavora. Interview with the author.

4
This lax attitude was not always so. In the time of King Henry IV (late fourteenth, early fifteenth centuries) a man named Johannes Leycestre and his wife, Cedilia, stole “a little book from an old church.” His punishment: “Let him be hanged by the neck until his life departs.” Apparently, the fate of Cedilia, like that of most women of her day, was not worth recording. See Edwin White Gaillard, “The Book Larceny Problem,”
The Library Journal
, vol. 45 (March 15, 1920), pp. 247-254, 307-312.

5
Sebastiaan Hesselink, interviews with the author, and Travis McDade,
The Book Thief
(Westport, CT: Praeger, 2006).

6
Nicholas A. Basbanes,
A Splendor of Letters
(New York: Harper Perennial, 2004), p. 15.

7
Robert Vosper,
A Pair of Bibliomanes for Kansas: Ralph Ellis and Thomas Jefferson Fitzpatrick
(Bibliographical Society of America publication), vol. 55 (Third Quarter, 1961).

8
James Gilreath and Douglas L. Wilson, eds.,
Thomas Jefferson’s Library
(Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office, 1989).

9
Wilmarth Sheldon Lewis wrote this for a speech that was never delivered. Quoted in Basbanes,
A Gentle Madness
, p. 23.

10
P. Alessandra Maccioni Ruju and Marco Mostert,
The Life and Times of Guglielmo Libri
(Hilvesum, Netherlands: Verloren, 1995).

1
Lawrence Sidney Thompson,
Notes on Bibliokleptomania
, Bulletin of The New York Public Library, September 1944; and Basbanes,
A Gentle Madness
.

1
American Library Association online newsletter, December 12, 2003.

1
Marcello Simonetta, ed.,
Federico da Montefeltro and His Library
(Milan: Y. Press and Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 2007).

2
Jonathan J. G. Alexander, “Perfection of Illustration and Ornament,” in Simonetta,
Federico da Montefeltro and His Library
, p. 17.

3
According to Freud, the collector’s makeup often includes “an enquiring mind; a penchant for secrecy” and “a propensity for rationalization.” As quoted in Burke,
The Sphinx on the Table
, p. 196. Burke cites Patrick Mauries,
Cabinets of Curiosities
(London: Thames & Hudson, 2002), p. 182.

4
Baez,
A Universal History of the Destruction of Books.

 

 

 

 

It’s probably no surprise that there are many books about rare books and those who collect them. To read them is to learn the rich history of the book, the varied forms it has taken, and why some periods, genres, authors, illustrators, and presses lend collectible charm to a selection of them. Surprisingly few books, on the other hand, detail the deeds of book thieves. The bulk of this information I found in periodicals and by interviewing those who have had firsthand experience with them. Readers interested in learning more are advised to visit rare book libraries and bookstores, where they will be able not only to see, touch, even read, fine old books, but also to hear for themselves stories that have never been put to paper, never bound into a book.

While there are several fine memoirs by and biographies of individual collectors, the following books offer readers an expansive view of the rare book world and those who inhabit it:

Nicholas Basbanes,
Among the Gently Mad
;
A Gentle Madness
;
Patience and Fortitude
; and
A Splendor of Letters

Philipp Blom,
To Have and To Hold

Rick Gekoski,
Nabokov’s Butterfly: And Other Stories of Great Authors and Books

Holbrook Jackson,
The Anatomy of Bibliomania

Robert H. Jackson and Carol Zeman Rothkopf, eds.,
Book Talk: Essays on Books, Booksellers, Collecting, and Special Collections

Werner Muensterberger,
Collecting: An Unruly Passion: Psychological Perspectives

Harold Rabinowitz and Rob Kaplan,
A Passion for Books: Book Lover’s Treasury of Stories, Essays, Humor, Love and Lists on Collecting, Reading, Borrowing, Lending, Caring for, and Appreciating Books

William Targ,
Bouillabaisse for Bibliophiles

 

And this is an invaluable dictionary of terms:

 

John Carter,
ABC for Book Collectors