Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1902-01-16
NOTED BOOK THIEVES
HISTORICAL FIGURES WHO STOLE
UNIQUE VOLUMES.

| Inspector General Libri Was the
| King of the BibIioklept Pribe-A
Cardinal, n bishop and Priest In
| fected With the Mania.
Book stealing is an art upon which
much ingenuity has been expended.
| One never knows in what form it will
| next break out. 1t is an incident by no
| means uncommon in Booksellers row
| for a bibliopole to be offered book
| which had been stolen from his next
| door neighbor. There is something
more than a tradition to the effect that
| a bookseller has on occasion purchased
book taken a minute or two previous
| " from the shelves outside his shop!
A favorite mode of stealing books
| from public libraries is to procure
| book, sit down to read it and then
wrap it up in an overcoat and after
| this to take up a paper or magazine.
| The rest is easily guessed. The public
| libraries suffer in all sorts of ways, for
here the accumulated wisdom of the
| thief finds plenty Of scope. Some of
| the tribe have a mania for old directo-
ries. Librarians complain frequently
| of the clerical thief of sermons and
| theological literature.
Novels and 'books of the bibliOphile"
| (as the French call them one can un-
| derstand being stolen, but sermons
and theology, Women, more or less
generally more - respectfully dressed,
Are often objects of suspicion with IL
brarians, for the ''receptivity" of cloaks
Is infinite. and the feelings" of the
culprit must also be considered. AS
general rule, the thief is well dressed
and educated and frequently well to
do.
Whatever may be the causes which
prompt a person to steal books, there
is always this consolation - he is in
good company. This balm may not be
very healing one to the soul Of the
person whose books are stolen. but 1t
must be consolatory to the thief when
repenting in prison to know that some
great and good men have been touched
with the same species Of insanity.
Hearne, in his johannes Glastoni-
ensis," more than hints that Sir Thom-
as Bodley had a weakness in this di-
rection ''If you hold" he warns Sir
Henry Saville, "any book so deare as
that you would bee loath to have him
out of your sight, set him aside" etc.
Moore, bishop of Ely, has likewise
come under such stigma. The anec-
dote runs to this effect: 4 gentleman
calling on n friend who had very
choice library found him unusually
busy in putting his best books out Of
sight. Upon asking his view in this he
was answered, Don't you know the
bishop of - dimes with me today:
The very king of book stealers was
Libri, who, as inspector general of
French libraries under Louis Philippe
had special facilities for helping him
self and whose known thefts have been
valued at 100000. The most interesting
illustration of this mans depredations
was exposed in 1868. when Lord Ash
burnham issued a translation of the
Pentateuch from a Latin manuscript
which had been purchased by the late
Lord Ashburnham from Libri, who had
sold it under the condition that it was
not to be published for twenty years.
1t had been stolen in 1S47 from the
Lyons library, and the last clause of
the agreement, therefore, could be cas-
lily understood. Libri evidently was not
one of those whom Jules Janin de-
scribes as people who don't think it
thieving to steal book unless you sell
it afterward."
Innocent X, when still Mgr. Pam
n
who was himself book thief and
ought to have been en- courant with the
devices and designs Of his own weak
nesses. 1t is refreshing to come across
an example when the tables are so
completely turned, and If anything
would induce an honest man to turn
book thief it should be the exhilarat-
ing fun of stealing from another thief.
1t is reported, however. that Du Nous
tier recovered the book and thrust the
cardinal out Of the house.
Catherine de- Medtci went in for steal
ing books by wholesale and barefaced.
She seized the fine library of Marshal
Strozzi and promised to pay his son for
it in installments, but never farthing
did he get.
OF another and equally extreme type
was the Spanish priest Don Vincento,
who sold books and then murdered the
purchasers to regain possession of his
coveted treasures. Like most of the
biblioklept tribe, he came to grief at
last. The original edition Q4S2) of the
"Eurs ordinations fetes per los glori-
osos Reys de Arago ais regnicois del
Regne de Valencia" was offered for
sale by auction and after long and
obstinate competition was knocked
down to q bookseller named Paxtot.
A week after Paxtot's shop was
burned down, and he was suffocated
at the same time. Suspicion was di-
rected toward Don Vincento, whose
residence was searched, and there at
length was discovered the incunabule
above named. The priest was arrest
ed, and at the hearing he confessed.
not from contrition or the fear of tor
ments in the next world, but because
1t appeared that the volume was not
unique, as had been supposed. He sob
bed violently when he was condemned
to be strangled, and the only defense
he vouchsafed was, "Ah, your worship.
my copy was not unique"-St. James
Gazette.