Novel #5 - The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Hoover Bartlett
"Sitting in any library, surrounded by high shelves of books, I sense the profoundly rich history of scholarship as something real, and it's both humbling and inspiring...We can read about the Holocaust or where Emily Dickinson wrote her "letter to the world" or where Jim Morrison is buried. We can view online photos of all these places. Still, each year, thousands of people visit Auschwitz, The Homestead, and Pere Lachaise...our desire to be near books rises from a similar impulse: they root us in something larger than ourselves, something real. For this reason, I am sure that hardbound books will survive, even long after e-books have become popular."
this is a true story. the book stemmed largely from the author's interviews with John Charles Gilkey, a book thief for an article she wrote about him, and with Ken Sanders, a respected rare book dealer and watchdog who had turned himself into a book detective of some sort, chasing Gilkey and putting him to jail, at least for a while.
Gilkey steals for love, the love of books. he has stolen rare first edition books from dealers and libraries largely through fraud. he steals the books not for the money but because he loves books and unloads some of it only when he direly has to. it is believed he has a large collection but the extent is unknown and they have never found out where he keeps his remaining collection.
-o0o-
i learned a lot from this book/story. for example, dust jackets are as equally important as the book itself, especially in first edition books. and my suspicion had been right all along: almost everything in e-bay is fake.
my "library" needs organizing - i feel i'm losing control of all these books. my most important book is a volume of shakespeare's works, leather bound and gold edged, in a velvet lined box that an ex-flame gave me after he watched me perform the role of 'portia' in "the merchant of venice" in university. that's the thing that ups my household insurance every year.
cool shot..our family loves books we have an extensive library that covers our broad range of interests ..we sometimes get guests that are amazed that we have read all of them.
@aspada - thank you, amy. @pamfromcalgary - thank you, pam. my mother taught us how to read at a very young age, myself at four. and because reading materials were scarce for us poor folks, i read even the magazine pages that were used to wrapped fish, which only fueled my desire to read more. @bkbinthecity - thanks. i came to canada in 1988 with two large boxes of books that i took with me from manila to bruxelles then to the middle east. i missed the ones i left behind and have since replaced them. i missed even more the ones that were borrowed from me and never returned :-( @steeler - i could lose myself in your library then. i read anything that interests me. thanks, howard. @sunnygreenwood - thanks, anne. much appreciated.
@catsmeowb - thanks, camille. my dream is for a large room with floor to ceiling shelves of books and books and books with a sliding ladder; and a large bay window with soft pillows from where i can sit and read all of my life. you're welcome to sit and read with me, we'll be very quiet. :-)
Books are WONDERFUL and I love this shot and your shared thoughts!! Can I come read in your dream room, too??! I don't have a kindle -- I love the physical BOOK. Always will, I suspect....!
@cscecil - oh, no! not one of those 'electronic books'. i love the feel of the paper, and when the book is old, the smell of old (thankfully, and hopefully, i haven't smelled old yet myself hahahaha!). i love the sound of rustling pages and i do love pretty book marks, especially if they're handmade. of course, you can come, too, in my dream library room.
can i tell you that there was one time when i spilled coffee on a book i was reading and there were coffee stains all over my white dress and the book was soaked (it was a big coffee mug). i cried over the book and i tried to dry it so i didn't have to throw it away. i cried over my white dress, too, but the dress can be washed, not the book. :-(
Portia hey? Nice gift from long ago. I too love Shakespeare, of course although my copies are all soft and dog eared from study at uni. Now this book I have not read so it goes on my list and off to the library I go tomorrow. Tho if I love a book I have to buy it! I'm happy sitting just looking at my book shelves, they make me happy and bring back so many memories.
@danig - that shakespeare book is well used up and well read; in fact when you open the beautiful box you'd be surprised how over-used the book looks. i was told by a friend one time that i should've taken care of the book but i told her i actually read the book. in grade school, we had a teacher who told us never to 'dog-ear' any book and to use bookmarks instead. these days i just use the yellow stick notes.
@pamfromcalgary - thank you, pam. my mother taught us how to read at a very young age, myself at four. and because reading materials were scarce for us poor folks, i read even the magazine pages that were used to wrapped fish, which only fueled my desire to read more.
@bkbinthecity - thanks. i came to canada in 1988 with two large boxes of books that i took with me from manila to bruxelles then to the middle east. i missed the ones i left behind and have since replaced them. i missed even more the ones that were borrowed from me and never returned :-(
@steeler - i could lose myself in your library then. i read anything that interests me. thanks, howard.
@sunnygreenwood - thanks, anne. much appreciated.
your photo and commentary is outstanding, as usual. i look forward to reading this.
can i tell you that there was one time when i spilled coffee on a book i was reading and there were coffee stains all over my white dress and the book was soaked (it was a big coffee mug). i cried over the book and i tried to dry it so i didn't have to throw it away. i cried over my white dress, too, but the dress can be washed, not the book. :-(