The man who loved books too much

the true story of a thief, a detective, and a world of literary obsession

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The man who loved books too much
Allison Hoover Bartlett
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Last edited by OCLC Bot
April 30, 2011 | History

The man who loved books too much

the true story of a thief, a detective, and a world of literary obsession

  • 4.00 ·
  • 1 Rating
  • 16 Want to read
  • 0 Currently reading
  • 1 Have read

In the tradition of The Orchid Thief, a compelling narrative set within the strange and genteel world of rare-book collecting: the true story of an infamous book thief, his victims, and the man determined to catch him. Rare-book theft is even more widespread than fine-art theft. Most thieves, of course, steal for profit.

John Charles Gilkey steals purely for the love of books. In an attempt to understand him better, journalist Allison Hoover Bartlett plunged herself into the world of book lust and discovered just how dangerous it can be. Gilkey is an obsessed, unrepentant book thief who has stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of rare books from book fairs, stores, and libraries around the country. Ken Sanders is the self-appointed "bibliodick" (book dealer with a penchant for detective work) driven to catch him.

Bartlett befriended both outlandish characters and found herself caught in the middle of efforts to recover hidden treasure. With a mixture of suspense, insight, and humor, she has woven this entertaining cat-and-mouse chase into a narrative that not only reveals exactly how Gilkey pulled off his dirtiest crimes, where he stashed the loot, and how Sanders ultimately caught him but also explores the romance of books, the lure to collect them, and the temptation to steal them. Immersing the reader in a rich, wide world of literary obsession, Bartlett looks at the history of book passion, collection, and theft through the ages, to examine the craving that makes some people willing to stop at nothing to possess the books they love.

Publish Date
Publisher
Riverhead Books
Language
English

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Book Details


Edition Notes

Published in
New York
Genre
Biography

Classifications

Dewey Decimal Class
002.075, B
Library of Congress
Z992.8 .B37 2009

The Physical Object

Pagination
p. cm.

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL23397376M
ISBN 13
9781594488917
LCCN
2009021324
OCLC/WorldCat
311778251
Library Thing
8364551
Goodreads
6251543

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History

Download catalog record: RDF / JSON / OPDS | Wikipedia citation
April 30, 2011 Edited by OCLC Bot Added OCLC numbers.
August 19, 2010 Edited by IdentifierBot added LibraryThing ID
April 16, 2010 Edited by bgimpertBot Added goodreads ID.
December 15, 2009 Edited by WorkBot link works
June 11, 2009 Created by ImportBot Imported from Library of Congress MARC record