The Vespiary Book Binding & Book Conservation

Following up on a previous post, James Brubaker of Great Falls was sentenced yesterday to 2 1/2 years in prison.  One good thing that came out of this was the discovery of a blog entirely about book theft and book-related crimes (even if the author does diverge every now and then) called Upward Departure.  The [...]

All eyes have been pointed towards China in the recent weeks because of the Olympics; mine are no exception. A recent article in the China Daily caught my eye, and it’s worth passing your way. A devoted group of conservation professionals have dedicated themselves over the last 18 years to restoring numerous ancient [...]

Another one! Something about the summer that brings out book thieves.
So you work at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC, and one day a swingin’ 50-something dilettante bedecked in expensive clothes bought by mommy drops by to ask you the value of his “friend’s” tome….which turns out to be a hot First Folio [...]

Nothing enrages me more than sophisticated biblioklepts who destroy public property for their own gain. The infamous Stephen Blumberg first springs to mind, with his elaborate and large-scale book filching career that is detailed in Nicholas Basbanes’ book, A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books (there’s also a good [...]