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The Map Thief
The Map Thief: The Gripping Story of an Esteemed Rare-map Dealer Who Made Millions Stealing Priceless Maps | Michael Blanding
13 posts | 12 read | 28 to read
The story of an infamous crime, a revered map dealer with an unsavory secret, and the ruthless subculture that consumed him Maps have long exerted a special fascination on viewersboth as beautiful works of art and as practical tools to navigate the world. But to those who collect them, the map trade can be a cutthroat business, inhabited by quirky and sometimes disreputable characters in search of a finite number of extremely rare objects. Once considered a respectable antiquarian map dealer, E. Forbes Smiley spent years doubling as a map thief until he was finally arrested slipping maps out of books in the Yale University library. The Map Thief delves into the untold history of this fascinating high-stakes criminal and the inside story of the industry that consumed him. Acclaimed reporter Michael Blanding has interviewed all the key players in this stranger-than-fiction story, and shares the fascinating histories of maps that charted the New World, and how they went from being practical instruments to quirky heirlooms to highly coveted objects. Though pieces of the map theft story have been written before, Blanding is the first reporter to explore the story in fulland had the rare privilege of having access to Smiley himself after hed gone silent in the wake of his crimes. Moreover, although Smiley swears he has admitted to all of the maps he stole, libraries claim he stole hundreds moreand offer intriguing clues to prove it. Now, through a series of exclusive interviews with Smiley and other key individuals, Blanding teases out an astonishing tale of destruction and redemption. The Map Thief interweaves Smileys escapades with the stories of the explorers and mapmakers he knew better than anyone. Tracking a series of thefts as brazen as the art heists in Provenance and a subculture as obsessive as the oenophiles in The Billionaires Vinegar, Blanding has pieced together an unforgettable story of high-stakes crime.
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review
Schnoebs
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Bailedbailed

Man, this was a let down. I was really hoping this book would be in the same light as the Feather Thief but I reached 100 pages and could not care for the life of me. Idk about you, but the story of a man who was a famous map sealer turned thief sounds so interesting to me. I will say that I did enjoy the little bits of history behind the maps but when we talked about his life, I really wasn‘t enjoying myself. Sad, this wasn‘t a win.

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rsteve388
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These are my book flowers for my brides maids for my wedding.

Beatlefan129 Those are beautiful 💐 3y
AmyG Those are perfect and beautiful. 3y
Bookwormjillk Love it! 3y
See All 13 Comments
BookwormAHN Lovely 😻 3y
Soubhiville Oh how wonderful! 3y
Seeking_Serenity These look wonderful ♥️ 3y
Deblovestoread Gorgeous! 3y
IamIamIam Gorgeous!!!! 3y
Megabooks Love it!! 3y
Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick They're beautiful! What a wonderful idea! 3y
CuriousG What a lovely idea - hope it is a magical day! 3y
bibliobliss Beautiful 💗 3y
43 likes13 comments
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kaysworld1
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I love history, everything about history. When I received this in one of my swaps from the amazing @Amiable I was so excited.
I started it today.
The gripping story of an esteemed rare + map dealer who made millions stealing priceless maps.
#readingmyownbooks #history #reading #themapthief #roundtheworld #books #bookworm

emz711 TBR! 5y
Amiable Excellent! I‘m glad it‘s as good as it looked! 5y
kaysworld1 @Amiable It's started off good anyway talking about how they cought him because of his own silly mistake. 🌼 5y
36 likes1 stack add3 comments
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ashsbookmarks
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Second breakfast and reading about maps 🍞🤓🗺
Breakfast this morning was sweet so I needed a piece of toast to even it out. Hubby is golfing 🙄 so me and the girls are going to the library 📚 when it opens then grocery shopping 🛒 productive Sunday

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ashsbookmarks
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Either reading all day with no job or reading all day as a librarian 🤷🏻‍♀️ I‘ll take either 🤓📚

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ashsbookmarks
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I started reading The Map Thief last night. In the first chapter the author talked about the foldout map in the red leather bound edition of The Lord of the Rings. I had no idea that it was there!! Maps are so cool 🤓🗺

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ashsbookmarks
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I have had a “book” revelation! My shoulder has been killing me lately. I thought I slept on it wrong. Now I think I carry too many HEAVY books in my purse 👜 📚 I‘ll be reading on my kindle for the next few weeks 🤓

Crazeedi So my neck and arm hurts sometimes and I've realized it's from reading in bed on my side!! 😏 5y
Reecaspieces And I have arthritic thumb from flipping pages on my kindle and nook. 😂 5y
SailorMoon I love ebook readers! Don't get me wrong, I am fascinated by paper books, but as undecided as I am... having the choice among hundreds of books in my bag instead of just one (can you imagine carrying hundreds of books at a time?! LOL) is pretty great! Plus, some editions are made with a rough paper that gives me the goose bumps just by touching it 😅 5y
43 likes3 comments
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kaysworld1
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#Thegreatwideopenswap got delivered today omg lady you spoiled me I love everything, so happy @Amiable I found you 💝🤟

@LazyDays mine for my person is on its way I promise it's the Canadian Postal service fault (they need slapped) 🙂

LazyDays What a awesome package!🙌🙌💕 No worries, they are on strike. I hope they get itnto her soon💕 5y
kaysworld1 @LazyDays I do too I fell bad she has nothing to open. Things are slipping threw slowly 💝 5y
LazyDays @kaysworld1 fingers crossed! 5y
See All 6 Comments
Amiable I'm so glad you like everything! 💕 5y
kaysworld1 @Amiable I love it all 😊 I am obsessed with anything to do with the ocean and these books are perfect 💝 5y
Amiable Yay! I have to admit that the only one I've read so far is "In the Kingdom of Ice," but it's really good! (edited) 5y
28 likes1 stack add6 comments
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umbrellagirl
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January recap, part 1 of 2. Since I‘m unlikely to finish my current read tonight, I‘m at 18 for January. Still enjoying the Flavia de Luce and PC Peter Grant series. #recap #januaryrecap

rockpools OMG! I hadn't spotted the Map Thief book before - I was supervising a small UK map library at the time he was at his peak- we were getting constant updates about what to look out for. Stacked! (Is it any good??) 6y
umbrellagirl I liked it. A good mix of history, background about the maps and libraries, and some of his interview with Smiley. 6y
84 likes1 stack add2 comments
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bookwrm526
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Mehso-so

This was an interesting listen on audio, but I ended up enjoying the historical sections about maps and the making of maps far more than the bits about the crime and the criminal (image from web).

Cinfhen It ended up a bail for me😔 7y
42 likes1 stack add1 comment
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Cinfhen
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Next up for #NonfictionNovember (I needed to put Mischling down for a little bit) This is an interesting tale of a well respected map collector and dealer who was unfortunately stealing the maps....lots of good world history, too🤓

BibliophileMomma Sounds intriguing! 7y
cathysaid What did you think of this book? I've picked it up several times when browsing but never commit. 7y
Cinfhen @cathysaid I'm reading it on my IPad and it's going slowly. I borrowed it from the library through OverDrive, because I wasn't sure about purchasing it either! 7y
41 likes2 stack adds3 comments
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LeahBergen
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#MapsinBooks or, in this case, maps *out* of books. This is the true story of a much-respected antiquarian map dealer and scholar who turned into an obsessed map thief. He was finally caught and pled guilty to his crimes but not before stealing millions of dollars worth of maps from the world's most prestigious libraries. #SomethingforSept #booksaboutbooks

76 likes11 stack adds
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Pentapod
Pickpick

The true story of map dealer turned map thief Edward Forbes Smiley, intertwined with lots of interesting detail about the world of map collecting and how history has shaped maps, as well as the reverse. A little dry at times - it IS non-fiction - but a very interesting subject.