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Thieves of Book Row
Thieves of Book Row: New York's Most Notorious Rare Book Ring and the Man Who Stopped It | Travis McDade
5 posts | 2 read | 22 to read
No one had ever tried a caper like this before. The goods were kept in a secure room under constant scrutiny, deep inside a crowded building with guards at the exits. The team picked for the job included two old hands known only as Paul and Swede, but all depended on a fresh face, a kid from Pinetown, North Carolina. In the Depression, some fellows were willing to try anything--even a heist in the rare book room of the New York Public Library. In Thieves of Book Row, Travis McDade tells the gripping tale of the worst book-theft ring in American history, and the intrepid detective who brought it down. Author of The Book Thief and a curator of rare books, McDade transforms painstaking research into a rich portrait of Manhattan's Book Row in the 1920s and '30s, where organized crime met America's cultural treasures in dark and crowded shops along gritty Fourth Avenue. Dealers such as Harry Gold, a tough native of the Lower East Side, became experts in recognizing the value of books and recruiting a pool of thieves to steal them--many of them unemployed men who drifted up the Bowery or huddled around fires in Central Park's shantytowns. When Paul and Swede brought a new recruit into his shop, Gold trained him for the biggest score yet: a first edition of Edgar Allan Poe's Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems. Gold's recruit cased the rare-book room for weeks, searching for a weakness. When he found one, he struck, leading to a breathtaking game of wits between Gold and NYPL special investigator G. William Bergquist. Both a fast-paced, true-life thriller, Thieves of Book Row provides a fascinating look at the history of crime and literary culture.
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TheKidUpstairs
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#OnThisDay in 1931 a rare copy of Edgar Allan Poe's Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Other Poems and first editions of The Scarlet Letter and Moby-Dick were stolen from New York Public Library by Samuel Dupree, on behalf of a crooked New York antiquarian book dealer, Harry Gold. The tagged chronicles the exploits of the thieves. Fiona Davis took inspiration from this brazen theft for her historical fiction title Lions of 5th Ave. #HistoryGetsLIT

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SW-T
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This was quite an extensive operation. 😳

The missing books were valued at more than $3.4 million. There were 240 books in all, including early versions of some of the most significant printed works of European history, such as Albert Einstein‘s own 1621 copy of astronomer Johannes Kepler‘s The Cosmic Mystery, in which he lays out his theory of planetary motion.

https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2021/03/the-case-of-the-purloined-books

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Mitch
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Second #bookmail today..... from the curator of rare books at University of Illinois College of Law, telling the tale of the organised book thief ring operating in Manhattan across the 1920/30s. I‘m back on track with my #onenonfictionamonth so looking forward to reading this very soon!
Have you read this @LeahBergen ?

Pamwurtzler That looks super interesting! 5y
Mitch @Pamwurtzler yeah..it took my fancy! 5y
LeahBergen It‘s waiting on my shelf! 😆 5y
Mitch @LeahBergen thought it was right up your alley! Xxx 5y
84 likes3 stack adds4 comments
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LeahBergen
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Set on Manhattan‘s Book Row in the 1920s and ‘30s, this is the true story of an audacious heist from the rare book room at the New York Public Library. 😮

#NewYork
#Aprella
#BooksAboutBooks

emilyhaldi Could there be a more perfect NYC/Book-related post? I need this!!! 🙌🏻 6y
TrishB Sounds cool 👍🏻 6y
Andrew65 Sounds interesting. 😊 6y
See All 12 Comments
Reviewsbylola Wow, leave it to you to post yet another book I must read!! 6y
LeslieO My kind of story! 6y
Mdargusch This would be good for the pop18 prompt #bookaboutaheist ! 6y
Melissa_J Oh, this one has my attention! (edited) 6y
DeborahSmall Looks great! 6y
Smangela Sounds good! 6y
rubyslippersreads This is exactly the kind of heist I could see you masterminding. 😂 6y
Cinfhen Nice!!!! Sounds super interesting 🤓 6y
LeahBergen @rubyslippersreads You‘re onto me... 😆 6y
131 likes15 stack adds12 comments
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LeahBergen
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A #shelfie of one of my favourite shelves ... books about books. #Riotgrams #BooksAboutBooks

TrishB Lovely 😀 7y
EvieBee Awesome!! 7y
Suzze Wow! You are really organized! 7y
See All 18 Comments
Cinfhen That's a gorgeous photo 😍 7y
Zelma That would be my favorite shelf as well! 7y
Reviewsbylola ❤❤❤ 7y
rubyslippersreads 😍📚😍📚😍 7y
Kindredanne That would be my favorite shelf as well!!!! 7y
Hobbinol That just speaks volumes!👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻Love it lots! 7y
ValerieAndBooks Wow! I need to add some of those to my TBR list ( looking for pen and paper now)! 7y
britt_brooke Lovely! 7y
LeahBergen @ValerieAndBooks Can you see them well enough? 😂 7y
Kindredanne @LeahBergen I would love a shot where I could see the titles a bit better!! Some I can see but some, especially toward the back are harder to read. I love books about books and I am sure there are some on that shelf that I have not read!!! 7y
rubyslippersreads The downside of being able to see them better is that it would make me want to buy more books! 😂 7y
ValerieAndBooks I can see pretty much what @Kindredanne can. Still enough for my TBR to grow 😂 7y
MrBook 😂😂😂😂 7y
115 likes18 comments