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Description edit
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... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Summary edit
The Man Who Loved Books Too Much, Is a True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Obsession.
The man is John Gilkey, a serial stealer of books who, in one six-month period alone, purloined $100,000 worth of rare titles, normally by paying with dud cheques or using credit...
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(warning: may contain spoilers)
Characters edit
- John Gilkey: John Gilkey is the primary character, the man who loved books too much!
- Ken Sanders: The self-styled 'Bibliodick' who hunts Gilkey down
- Allison Hoover Bartlett: Author who appears in the book as herself. The book is a non-fiction account of her investigations and where it led.
- Ken Munson: Detective in California
- John Crichton: Rare bookshop owner
- Ken Lopez: Book seller that Gilkey stole from
- Cora: John Gilkey's mother
- Hawkins: Add a description of this character.
- Tina: John Gilkey's sister
- Heldfond: Book seller that Gilkey stole from
- Ryan: book thief
- Melissa: Ken Sander's daughter
- Mckittrick
- Moirandat
- Hesselink: Swedish rare book dealer
- Don Vincente: Spanish book thief in 1800's
- Dailey
- Clark
- Lane
Quotes edit
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“This book belongs to none but me For there's my name inside to see. To steal this book, if you should try, It's by the throat that you'll hang high. And ravens then will gather 'bout To find your eyes and pull them out. And when you're screaming "Oh, Oh, Oh" Remember, you deserved this woe.--Warning written by medieval German scribe”
Pg. 259 -
“For him that stealeth, or borroweth and returneth not, this book from its owner . . . let him be struck with palsy, & all his members blasted . . . Let bookworms gnaw his entrails in token of the Worm that dieth not, & when at last he goeth to his final punishment, let the flames of Hell consume him forever. -- Anathema in a medieval manuscript from the Monastery of San Pedro in Barcelona”
- Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
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Physical artifacts carry memory and meaning, and this is as true of important historical texts as it is of cherished childhood books.
Highlighted by 24 Kindle customers -
The fearsome urge to destroy or suppress books is an acknowledgment of their power, and not only that of august scientific, political, and philosophical texts but that of small, quiet books of poetry and fiction as well, which nonetheless hold great capacity to change us.
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The surface charm of a con man, like most enchantments, is a form of manipulation, and behind the façade stood a sturdy buttress of greed.
Highlighted by 22 Kindle customers -
If I had to reduce him to a sentence, I’d say that Gilkey is a man who believes that the ownership of a vast rare book collection would be the ultimate expression of his identity, that any means of getting it would be fair and right, and that once people could see his collection, they would appreciate the man who had built it.
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“Ownership is the most intimate relationship that one can have to objects. Not that they can come alive in him; it is he who comes alive in them,” wrote cultural critic Walter Benjamin.9
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In Cold Blood, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, The Professor and The Mad-man , The Orchid Thief.
Highlighted by 20 Kindle customers -
(one of my favorite books about collecting is called A Gentle Madness).
Highlighted by 14 Kindle customers -
John Dunning’s Booked to Die, a novel in which a woman collector does copious research on rare books and profits from her knowledge.
Highlighted by 13 Kindle customers -
My favorite remedy, though, is for low spirits. “Often we are missing the right kind of happiness, and if we don’t have any wine yet, we will be very content when we do get wine.”
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His story inspired one of Gustave Flaubert’s first short stories and his first published work, “Bibliomanie,” written in 1836, shortly before his fifteenth birthday.
Highlighted by 11 Kindle customers
Setting & Locations edit
First Sentence edit
At one end of my desk sits a nearly four-hundred-year old book cloaked in a tan linen sack and a good deal of mystery.
Table of Contents edit
1. Like a Moth to a Flame
2. Half-truths
3. Richie Rich
4. A Gold Mine
5. Spider-Man
6. Happy New Year
7. Trilogy of Kens
8. Treasure Island
9. Brick Row
10. Not Giving Up
11. This Call May Be Recorded or Monitored
12. What More Could I Ask?
13. And Look: More Books!
14. The Devil's Walk
Glossary edit
- Bibilodick: a detective who seeks out those woho would commit crimes against rare books
Series & Lists edit
Authors & Contributors edit
- Allison Hoover Bartlett (Author)
First Edition edit
Original Language: English
Publisher: Riverhead
Country: USA
Publication Date: 2009
ISBN: 1594488916
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Riverhead
Country: USA
Publication Date: 2009
ISBN: 1594488916
Page Count: 288
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
- Dewey: 002.075
Subjects edit
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