323 “fall on its face”: ibid., 45.
323–24 “CONGRATULATIONS”: Fleming vs. Beutel, 61 (telegram from Harry Ransom to Herman Dunlap Smith).
324 “duplicate rare and scarce”: Report of Subcommittee on Books, Jan. 22, 1965, from Louis Silver files in the Newberry Library.
324 Of the nine hundred items: For full description of materials sold as surplus, see Sotheby’s, Catalogue of Rare First Editions. … For more on Silver, see Dickinson, 285–87.
325 “gulosity … a great pity”: “Commentary,” in Book Collector, Summer 1964, 143–44.
325–26 “saved something … not altogether want”: “Commentary,” in Book Collector, Autumn 1965, 297–301.
326 “We venture to think”: Sotheby’s, Catalogue of Rare First Editions … , 7.
327 “was fully used”: Fleming vs. Beutel, 61.
330 “an imaginative and tenacious”: “Lew D. Feldman, 70, Book Dealer, Dead,” New York Times, Nov. 30, 1976, 42.
330 “How Dr. Ransom got the letters”: Martin Waldron, “Books Rival Athletics at the U. of Texas,” New York Times, Jan. 2, 1973, 42.
331 “when and where rare books”: ibid.
331–33 See Rita Reif, “David Kirschenbaum Dies at 99; A Leading Dealer in Rare Books,” New York Times, Jan. 21, 1994, B8.
333 “I am booked”: Quoted in Munby, “Floreat Bibliomania,” in Barker, Essays and Papers, 39.
333 “Such a compromise”: ibid., 40.
333 For more on DeCoursey Fales, see John T. Winterich, The Fales Collection: An Appreciation (New York: New York University Press, 1959).
337 “will complete the collection”: J. Wynn Rousuck,” ‘Tamerlane’: 15-cent bomb to $123,000 gem,” Baltimore Sunday Sun, Dec. 1, 1974.
337–38 “The ability to bilk … crime pays”: Hamilton, 19–21.
339 “My wife Diane”: Hamilton, 20.
340–42 “hundreds of thousands … with the President”: Gotlieb.
342–45 “Yes, I was one … break up the college”: Silber’s dismissal was reported in the Dallas Morning News, July 26, 1970.
345 “an administrative monstrosity”: John Yemma, “Erwin on Erwin,” in Scene magazine (Dallas Morning News), Dec. 11, 1977, 2–9. Other biographical information on Erwin from news clippings in library of the Dallas Morning News.
346 “He was a rare human being”: Quoted by Joan Cook in “Frank C. Erwin Jr., Ex-Texas U. Regent,” New York Times, Oct. 3, 1980, D-15.
348–49 “insiders … ‘Free at last’”: Clifford Endres, “Paying the Price,” Texas Monthly, May 1988, 124–27. Turner used the phrase “Ransom syndrome” not only in the newsletter but also in interviews with the press. See “HRC—UT’s Cultural Treasury,” Dallas Morning News, July 4, 1982. For Ross Perot’s decision to “give” $15 million (later disclosed to be a loan) for a key purchase, see “Rare Pforzheimer Books Boug ht for U. of Texas,” New York Times, Jan. 22, 1986, C15.
351 “I sat down and began”: Lake, 116–17.
352 “I hope you will not”: Letter from Harry Ransom to Carlton Lake, March 20, 1969.
353 “I would never say”: For more on Lake, see Clifford Endres, “Treasure Hunter,” in Third Coast, March 1984.
354 “Like many brilliant leaders”: Thomas F. Staley, “The Development of Twentieth Century Collections in American Research Institutions,” speech delivered at Cambridge University, Sept. 8, 1989. Transcript available at Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center.
10: “OBSESSED AMATEURS”
This chapter draws on the author’s interviews with Louis I. Szathmary II, David E. Schoonover, Walter L. Pforzheimer, Bernard McTigue, Rita Smith, Frederick Nash, Justin G. Schiller, Betsy Beinecke Shirley, and Vincent Giroud. See Bibliography, “Author’s Interviews,” (pp. 575–82), for further details.
355 “the brilliant beginning”: William Faulkner, Father Abraham, ed. James Meriwether (New York: Random House, 1983), 3.
355 “chews tobacco constantly”: Faulkner, Father Abraham, 14.
357 “Chef Louis is not cooking”: Fred Ferretti, “A Gourmet at Large,” in Gourmet, August 1989, 46.
357 “The food writers joke”: Robert Cross, “The Godfather of Gourmet,” in Chicago Tribune, May 4, 1989, sect. 7, 1.
369 “I was always a reader”: Chernofsky, “Children’s Books as a Source of Cultural History,” AB Bookman’s Weekly, Nov. 14, 1988, 1905–8.
376 “Read Me a Story, Show Me a Book”: See Shirley.
376 For more on the Beinecke brothers, see Dickinson, 31–33.
380 For more on the Elisabeth W. Ball Collection, see David Warrington, “Children’s Literature,” in The Lilly Library, 147–57; Dickinson, 25–26.
380 “It began on one of those”: Edgar Osborne, introduction to St. John, xvii.
381 “When the books came … in this country”: ibid., v.
381 For more on the Iona and Peter Opie Collection, see Iona Opie, Peter Opie, and Brian Alderson, The Treasures of Childhood (New York: Arcade Publishing, 1989).
11: “DESTINY”
This chapter draws on the author’s interviews with Aaron Lansky, Ruth M. Wisse, Charles L. Blockson, Lenny Moore, Peter J. Liacouras, and Fred J. Board. See Bibliography, “Author’s Interviews,” (pp. 575–82), for further details.
383 “To me the Yiddish Language”: The text of Singer’s speech is reprinted in Singer.
385–86 “Mendele shared”: Aaron Lansky, “Artistic Voice and Implicit Social Theory in the Early Yiddish Fiction of Mendele Moykher Sforim,” master’s thesis, McGill University, 1980, 12.
388 According to sociolinguist Joshua A. Fishman: in Harshav, 85.
388 “The high honor”: Singer, 6–9.
389 “It is true that Hitler”: Harshav, 86.
390 Letters from William Uris and Marjorie Guthrie from files of National Yiddish Book Center.
394 “delightful diversion”: Elinor Des Verney Sinnette, “Arthur Alfonso Schomburg,” in Sinnette, Coates, and Battle, eds., 35.
395 “incompetent and unreliable”: Sinnette, 40. Hubert Howe Bancroft (1832–1918), author of the offensive comments (in Retrospection, Political and Personal), is best remembered for his book collecting (see chapter 4), not his scholarship.
395 “However learned”: Sinnette, Coates, and Battle, 35–36.
396 “We need in the coming dawn”: Sinnette, 73.
396 Spingarn’s collection: For more on Moorland and Spingarn, see Dickinson, 232–33 and 293.
396 “long before … to Negroes everywhere”: Sinnette, 87.
397 “On the eve of my departure”: ibid., 145.
398 “History must restore”: Schomburg, 231; “The Negro has been”: ibid., 237.
398 “who renews your faith” and “Blockson just runs”: News clippings from scrapbook in Charles L. Blockson Collection.
401 “tens of thousands”: Blockson, National Geographic, July 1984, 3. See also Blockson, The Underground Railroad (New York: Prentice-Hall, 1987).
405 Information on the Federal Writers Project from Alfred Kazin, introduction to Federal Writers Project’s New York Panorama (New York: Pantheon, 1984), xiii–xxii.
408 For an account of the “hermit” Collyer Brothers: see New York Times for Jan. 28, March 22, March 23, March 25, March 26, March 30, April 2, April 5, April 6, April 9, April 12, May 10, all 1947.
12: “CONTINENTAL DRIFT”
This chapter draws on the author’s interviews with Marcia McGhee Carter, Nicolas Barker, Lew and Ben Weinstein, Glen Dawson, Forrest J. Ackerman, Sidney E. Berger, Ricky Jay, William and Peggy Self, David Sullivan, Louise Taper, Paul Gehl, Ralph G. Newman, John Larroquette, Ralph B. Sipper, David Karpeles, Mary Ellen Brooks, Sanford L. Berger, William J. Monihan, Ellen Shaffer, Dr. Haskell F. Norman, Jeremy Norman, and Owen Gingerich. See Bibliography, “Author’s Interviews,” (pp. 575–82), for further details.
410 For more detailed information on California bookselling, book collecting and book culture, see Bidwell and Briggs
; and Warren R. Howell, “Exploring California Book-Trade History,” AB Bookman’s Weekly, Jan. 8, 1979, 240–65. Superb interviews have been compiled under the auspices of the Oral History Program, University of California at Los Angeles: James V. Mink, Looking Back at Sixty: Recollections of Lawrence Clark Powell, Librarian, Teacher, and Writer (2 vols., 1973); Joel Gardner, Books and the Imagination: Fifty Years of Rare Books—Jake Zeitlin (2 vols., 1980). Available at the Oral History Office, Bancroft Library, University of California at Berkeley is Ruth Teiser, William J. Monihan, S.J., Librarian and Dedicated Bookman, University of San Francisco, 1947–1988 (1988).
412 “He left our complete run … boxes to the shelves”: Lew Weinstein, “Heritage Book-Shop—The First Year,” The Professional Rare Bookman, Journal of the American Antiquarian Booksellers of America, Inc., no. 4 (1982), 29–33.
417 “One room … take them with him”: Stephen Tabor, profile of Michael D. Hurley in catalogue no. 477 of Dawson’s Book Shop, August 1984, unpaginated.
419 For more on Carl M. Rheuban, see “How One Savings Institution Came Apart,” New York Times, June 12, 1990, A1.
420 “Let me say … that from happening”: For more on Ricky Jay as magician, scholar, writer, and obsessive collector, see Mark Singer, “Secrets of the Magus,” in New Yorker, April 5, 1993, 54–73.
421–22 See William Self profiles and news articles in Dayton Daily News: Aug. 29, 1954; March 18, 1962; Oct. 18, 1964; Oct. 31, 1966; May 8, 1976.
426 Biographical background on Kenyon L. Starling from news clippings in the library of the Dayton Daily News. Obituary, Dec. 5, 1983.
427 “I enclose you a portion”: Sandburg, 9–10.
427 “Where would history and biography be”: ibid., xv.
428 Sandburg told how Barrett: ibid., 16.
431 “the presence of a single buyer”: Mark Sisco, “The Boothbay Theatre Museum Collection,” Maine Antique Digest, Sept. 1990, 1-B.
431–32 In 1990: See John Rhodehamel and Thomas F. Schwartz, The Last Best Hope of Earth … Promise of America, catalogue of exhibition at Huntington Library that featured Taper material. A 58-minute videocassette, The Making of the Last Best Hope of America, which dramatizes the formation of the exhibition and is narrated by Walter Matthau, with commentary by Louise Taper (Fido Productions, Beverly Hills), is available at the Huntington Library bookstore.
441 The constitution that remains: Details regarding Permanent Constitution of the Confederate States of America in Archives of the Government of the Confederate States of America (Washington, D.C.: National Archives of the United States, 1986), 4.
441–42 Description of Ethan Allen letter in Christie’s catalogue Printed Books and Manuscripts Including Americana, Dec. 7, 1990, 93 (Lot 181).
444 “So subtile”: Field, 50.
445 “mystical or superstitious”: Berger, 6.
446 See Peterson for descriptions of books produced by William Morris.
447 “His work in the field”: Wilhide, 9.
447–48 “has a form … acted upon!”: Naylor, 206–7.
449–50 Sanford L. Berger’s purchase of the “Morris Lot” from Anthony Rota is recalled by Magee, 209–13.
451 “To use rare books”: Wynne, 22.
451 “particular joy”: Berger, 7.
452 “penniless de Medici”: Kevin Starr, “A Priest for All Seasons,” Image magazine (San Francisco Examiner), Aug. 7, 1988, 12–15.
452–54 For more on the Sir Thomas More Medal, see Jeremy Norman, “Private Book Collecting—A Public Benefit,” in AB Bookman’s Weekly, Sept. 8, 1986, 814–15.
461–62 See Owen Gingerich, Collector’s Choice: A Selection of Books and Manuscripts Given by Harrison D. Horblit to the Harvard College Library. In a foreword Horblit wrote: “In the back of every collector’s mind is the question of the ultimate fate of his beloved possession. The ideal solution, of course, when one passes from this earthly realm, is to ‘take it with you.’ Since this has its drawbacks, a second solution might be to ‘stay with it,’ which has been rather attractively accomplished in several instances. In my case, a third solution has proven most satisfactory and rewarding—many of my favorite books now reside at Harvard.”
462–63 “This superb presentation … intimate circle”: Sotheby’s, The Celebrated Library of Harrison D. Horblit, Esq…., vol. 1, unpaginated (Lot 240). Additional history of this copy of the Copernicus is documented in Sotheby’s, The Collection of the Garden Ltd. …, unpaginated (Lot 51). For census, see also Gingerich, Great Copernicus Chase, 69–81.
13: “THE BLUMBERG COLLECTION”
This chapter draws on the author’s interviews with W. Dennis Aiken, Stephen C. Blumberg, Jerry Tucker, Roger E. Stoddard, Kenneth J. Rhodes, Shannon Applegate, William A. Moffett, Henry H. Clifford, Glen Dawson, John L. Sharpe III, Dr. Henry B. Blumberg, Dr. William S. Logan, and Raymond Cornell. See Bibliography, “Author’s Interviews,” (pp. 575–82), for further details.
467 A volunteer force of librarians helped the FBI identify the most valuable books stolen by Stephen Blumberg. The unprecedented project was coordinated by the Online Computer Library Center, Inc., of Dublin, Ohio, which produced a twelve-minute videotape of the project, The Omaha Project: A Rare Book Adventure. It was distributed to libraries throughout the country, and includes a number of interior views of the warehouse. But not all of the books removed from Blumberg’s house could be identified, prompting the FBI to give three thousand volumes of undetermined ownership to Creighton University in Omaha, which had provided considerable staff assistance to its agents. The donated books included a Latin tragedy published in 1583, a postage stamp-sized copy of the New Testament printed about 1500, and an 1874 copy of My Life on the Plains, or, Personal Experiences with Indians, by General George Armstrong Custer. On April 5, 1994, Creighton officials received a letter from Stephen Blumberg. “He basically states that he feels he has some claim over the books,” a Creighton spokesman reported. “He said that since they were seized from his house and the rightful owners could not be found, he should have possession of them.” University officials nevertheless announced their determination to keep the books. See Kevin O’Hanlon, “C.U. Asked to Return Volumes to Convicted Iowa Book Thief,” in the Omaha-World Herald, April 6, 1994, 13.
467 By June 30, 1994, the number of books at Harvard totaled 12,877,360 volumes, according to the university librarian’s annual report for the year.
468 U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, Central Division. United States of America vs. Steven [sic] Carrie Blumberg (criminal case no. 90–63). Direct testimony and cross-examination of Kenneth J. Rhodes, trial transcript, vol. 2, 172–270 (hereafter cited as U.S. vs. Blumberg), supplemented by author’s court room notes.
473 “Stephen would go”: Testimony of Brian T. Teeuwe, ibid., vol. 4, 486–532.
474 “It was an enormous loss”: Testimony of Fraser Cocks, ibid., 323–44.
475 “It is the cradle period”: Testimony of Susan M. Allen, ibid., 354–69.
475 “one of which is six stories high”: Testimony of Lynne Newell, U.S. vs. Blumberg, vol. 3, 375–84.
482 “This is accurate”: Testimony of Matthew McGue, U.S. vs. Blumberg, vol. 3, 392–96.
484 “We traveled to Ohio”: Testimony of Howard Bergstrom, ibid., vol. 4, 533–54.
485 “The Shinn lists are being shared”: Moffett, 1. In “Armed and Bibliographically Dangerous,” American Book Collector 3, no. 1, new ser., January/February 1982, 38–41, William Burton lists eight names known to have been used by James Shinn in 1981 alone, including James L. Coffman, his birth name.
487 Stephen Blumberg’s nefarious accomplishment—that he probably stole more books of “obviously high quality” than anyone else in the twentieth century—remains intact, although the exploits of one British bibliokleptomaniac, Duncan Charles Le Worsley Jevons, are sufficient to draw comparisons. On June 1, 1994, Jevons, a forty-nine-year-old turkey farm worker from Suffolk, England, was sentenced to fifteen mont
hs in prison after admitting that he had taken 42,000 books from libraries, churches, and colleges throughout Great Britain over a thirty-year period. Most of the books the onetime theology student removed from the institutions in a tattered old briefcase dealt with religion, philosophy, and history, although few were considered particularly rare. Officials computed losses at £500,000. That figure included costs for labor, storage, and shipment of the recovered books, as well as estimated replacement value. Jevons was arrested after he tried to sell a book bearing the logo of a library he had robbed to a suspicious buyer at a “car boot sale” in Cumbria. A search of the rundown eighteenth-century house in Suffolk where Jevons lived alone turned up thirty-five tons of purloined books. “Perhaps I do not have much sense of self-worth—or maybe I have the subconscious belief that if I surround myself with all these books, the knowledge within them will somehow seep into me,” Jevons told Suzanne O’Shea, for a story in the Daily Mail (London), “Jail for the Magpie Man Who Was Brought to Book,” June 2, 1994, 33. “The day of reckoning has come,” Ipswich Crown Court Judge John Turner declared prior to imposing sentence. “You are not mentally ill, you have just got a personality which is like a magpie to steal these kinds of books.” See also The Daily Telegraph (London), “Aspiring Philosopher Stole 42,000 Books,” June 2, 1994, 3.
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