King Books/Items Wanted

[carlosdetweiller]

I remember an german tv an nice article about ´ultra-hardcore´ bookcollectors.
They also talked about profesional book search agents, and one guy who was specialised in... CRIMINAL books search....

He visits old european library´s, with special high value books, then in the library he reads the books, an in an unnoticed moment he exchanged the high value book with an .... same looking book. (something like the Gutenberg Bible)
Most of the famous libarys don´t wanna talk about this... because they have BAD / No safety, but an
other ´insider´ says, when this crimial guy was caught, he talks about.... He has ´ exchanged´ hundreds of HIGH Value books in an value more than an MILLION EURO.....

Ex-library books can be expensive.....

Interesting. And it seems I have heard or seen something on television about these thieves. I guess I should have emphasized that it was the field of modern literature or modern first editions where most dealers and collectors shun ex-library copies.

[Randall Flagg]

Not so much a thief from Libraries, but:

The Man Who Loved Books Too Much

Bartlett delves into the world of rare books and those who collect—and steal—them with mixed results. On one end of the spectrum is Salt Lake City book dealer Ken Sanders, whose friends refer to him as a book detective, or Bibliodick. On the other end is John Gilkey, who has stolen over $100,000 worth of rare volumes, mostly in California. A lifelong book lover, Gilkey's passion for rare texts always exceeded his income, and he began using stolen credit card numbers to purchase, among others, first editions of Beatrix Potter and Mark Twain from reputable dealers. Sanders, the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association's security chair, began compiling complaints from ripped-off dealers and became obsessed with bringing Gilkey to justice. Bartlett's journalistic position is enviable: both men provided her almost unfettered access to their respective worlds. Gilkey recounted his past triumphs in great detail, while Bartlett's interactions with the unrepentant, selfish but oddly charming Gilkey are revealing (her original article about himself appeared in The Best Crime Reporting 2007).

[Stockerlone]

When this ´ book-exchange´ thiev... talked.....
Going into an important ´Switzerland´ library... Antiquariat-Old stuff Department.
Safety - ZERO. Open my big bag with the ´exchange´ books...
Make the exchange of the books... He talked about several books... first ed. Hemingway books, A.E Poe first, some books like the Gutenberg bible, some old old greek books..... crazy stuff.....

And the thiev says... 90% of the librarys have almost NO securety ... The best securety was an ´closed cabinet´.

[Niels]

Good to know that all collectible books can be found as non-ex-library copies!

In Holland there are 4 large-print editions which can only be found as ex-library copies. At least, it hasn't been proven otherwise. And even then they are hard/impossible to find.

I am interested in knowing more about these books. Can you provide details?

The be complete; there are 5 books printed in large text. Four of them can only be found as ex-library copies, the other one is (still) available outside a library.

Vel over been (Bag of bones), 130 printed, (2 books), ISBN 90-5542-494-3
Dolores Claiborne, 185 printed, ISBN 90-5542-503-6
Het meisje dat hield van Tom Gordon (The girl who loved Tom Gordon), 160 printed, ISBN 90-5542-656-3
Storm van de eeuw (Storm of the century), 35 printed, ISBN 90-5542-677-6

I've been in contact with the publisher and they told me that the print-run was determined by the amount of pre-orders. I'm still waiting for an answer if all copies were send to libraries.



My copy in the middle




Fellow dutch collector copy:




Achtbaan (Riding the Bullet), 400 printed, ISBN 90-364-2042-3

My copy on the right

[herbertwest]

I remember an german tv an nice article about ´ultra-hardcore´ bookcollectors.
They also talked about profesional book search agents, and one guy who was specialised in... CRIMINAL books search....

He visits old european library´s, with special high value books, then in the library he reads the books, an in an unnoticed moment he exchanged the high value book with an .... same looking book. (something like the Gutenberg Bible)
Most of the famous libarys don´t wanna talk about this... because they have BAD / No safety, but an
other ´insider´ says, when this crimial guy was caught, he talks about.... He has ´ exchanged´ hundreds of HIGH Value books in an value more than an MILLION EURO.....

Ex-library books can be expensive.....

Seems interesting! Does this documentary exists in english?

[Patrick]

Not so much a thief from Libraries, but:

The Man Who Loved Books Too Much

Bartlett delves into the world of rare books and those who collect—and steal—them with mixed results. On one end of the spectrum is Salt Lake City book dealer Ken Sanders, whose friends refer to him as a book detective, or Bibliodick. On the other end is John Gilkey, who has stolen over $100,000 worth of rare volumes, mostly in California. A lifelong book lover, Gilkey's passion for rare texts always exceeded his income, and he began using stolen credit card numbers to purchase, among others, first editions of Beatrix Potter and Mark Twain from reputable dealers. Sanders, the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association's security chair, began compiling complaints from ripped-off dealers and became obsessed with bringing Gilkey to justice. Bartlett's journalistic position is enviable: both men provided her almost unfettered access to their respective worlds. Gilkey recounted his past triumphs in great detail, while Bartlett's interactions with the unrepentant, selfish but oddly charming Gilkey are revealing (her original article about himself appeared in The Best Crime Reporting 2007).

I've seen that book. Sounds interesting. It's in the back of mind to read it one day.

[Stockerlone]

I remember an german tv an nice article about ´ultra-hardcore´ bookcollectors.
They also talked about profesional book search agents, and one guy who was specialised in... CRIMINAL books search....

He visits old european library´s, with special high value books, then in the library he reads the books, an in an unnoticed moment he exchanged the high value book with an .... same looking book. (something like the Gutenberg Bible)
Most of the famous libarys don´t wanna talk about this... because they have BAD / No safety, but an
other ´insider´ says, when this crimial guy was caught, he talks about.... He has ´ exchanged´ hundreds of HIGH Value books in an value more than an MILLION EURO.....

Ex-library books can be expensive.....

Seems interesting! Does this documentary exists in english?

Good question. Don´t remember the tv station .... maybe ARTE ??? Then it´s possible that this doc. exists in english and French

[herbertwest]

if it's ARTE that could exist in french too.. but it would be difficult to grab... :-/
maybe youtube?

[Weird Terror 72]

Since his mailbox is full I would just like to thank tippy4 for a great transaction. My copy arrived perfect thanks to his super packing of the book. I highly recommend him here on the forum as a seller!

[tippy4]

Hey thanks!

I got an email that my inbox is full and that you tried to PM me.

Just cleared out a few of the old messages, so I should be able to receive PMs again.

Enjoy your book!

[thegreattim]

Not so much a thief from Libraries, but:

The Man Who Loved Books Too Much

Bartlett delves into the world of rare books and those who collect—and steal—them with mixed results. On one end of the spectrum is Salt Lake City book dealer Ken Sanders, whose friends refer to him as a book detective, or Bibliodick. On the other end is John Gilkey, who has stolen over $100,000 worth of rare volumes, mostly in California. A lifelong book lover, Gilkey's passion for rare texts always exceeded his income, and he began using stolen credit card numbers to purchase, among others, first editions of Beatrix Potter and Mark Twain from reputable dealers. Sanders, the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association's security chair, began compiling complaints from ripped-off dealers and became obsessed with bringing Gilkey to justice. Bartlett's journalistic position is enviable: both men provided her almost unfettered access to their respective worlds. Gilkey recounted his past triumphs in great detail, while Bartlett's interactions with the unrepentant, selfish but oddly charming Gilkey are revealing (her original article about himself appeared in The Best Crime Reporting 2007).

I've seen that book. Sounds interesting. It's in the back of mind to read it one day.

Having read both, I can recommend The Man Who Loved Books Too Much. However, personally I liked The Book Thief: The True Crimes of Daniel Spiegelman even better. Gilkey was mostly a white collar criminal, stealing checks and credit cards to defraud sellers of their books. Spiegelman however, actually broke into libraries and physically removed the books form the property. He went so far as to use ducts and air shafts to get into Columbia's University Library rare book room where he "visited" again and again before anyone got wise to him. Much more entertaining a story as he also traveled to Europe to sell his books to really high end collectors. Gilkey kinda comes off as a dolt since he tries to sell stuff from one store to another. In the relatively small community that is high-end collecting in the states, this didn't work so well.

Anyway, they are both interesting reads though. Worth checking out.

[Stockerlone]

if it's ARTE that could exist in french too.. but it would be difficult to grab... :-/
maybe youtube?

Maybe, i hope it was ARTE

this TV article was .... think LONG... also regarding older time hard-core-Book collectors...
One example was an 1700 1800 ? mayor-doge from Venice. He spent the complete money from the town
for his bookcollecton and when he died, the people found in his 4 BIG palazzos TEN-THOUSANDS of BOOKS.

Now... i will ask in some German Book coll. Forums about this TV production.....

[e_taylor]

We are getting woefully off topic - but here is an interesting resource for incidences of book/manuscript theft from libraries/archives: http://www.rbms.info/committees/secu...ts/index.shtml

It goes back to 1987. If you have the time to read through some of the cases, theres some real gems in there!

[biomieg]

He went so far as to use ducts and air shafts to get into Columbia's University Library rare book room where he "visited" again and again before anyone got wise to him.

Does the house of the gentleman from Amarillo have ducts and air shafts? Hmmm... I've always wanted to visit The States. Why not start with Texas?

[Mr. Rabbit Trick]

He went so far as to use ducts and air shafts to get into Columbia's University Library rare book room where he "visited" again and again before anyone got wise to him.

Does the house of the gentleman from Amarillo have ducts and air shafts? Hmmm... I've always wanted to visit The States. Why not start with Texas?

The house has ducts and air shafts, but you have to be Eugene Victor Tooms to get in them.

[Ari_Racing]

LOL!

How to forget that excellent tv show.

[carlosdetweiller]

He went so far as to use ducts and air shafts to get into Columbia's University Library rare book room where he "visited" again and again before anyone got wise to him.

Does the house of the gentleman from Amarillo have ducts and air shafts? Hmmm... I've always wanted to visit The States. Why not start with Texas?

The house has ducts and air shafts, but you have to be Eugene Victor Tooms to get in them.

Yeah, they are pretty narrow ducts. Then there are those pesky motion detectors to deal with even after you squeeze through the ducts. Double (redundant) security system on all doors, windows, etc. I suppose it could be done but I know I couldn't do it and I know how it is wired and where all the redundancy is.

[biomieg]

Another dream shattered!

[jhanic]

I'm just happy with my watch dragon!

John

[namelessnpoor]

Hello All.
Looking for the Following UK Editions, if you have any that your willing to part with shoot me an email or PM.
Thanks
Rusty
rrdunaway@msn.com

Carrie
Night Shift
The Running Man
The Talisman
Salem's Lot (2005 uncut edition)
The Bachman Books
The Cycle of the Werewolf
The Green Mile (the 6 paperbacks)
The Green Mile (complete hardback 1998 Orion, 10.99 price)
Faithful
Blaze
Just After Sunset
Duma Key

[biomieg]

Rusty, do you also check out ebay.co.uk? Some people only use ebay.com with the 'worldwide' setting but you don't get every international listing using that approach. Most of the books on your list can be found quite easily. For FAITHFUL I'd check out ABE.

I assume you're looking for 1st printings. If not: I have a spare 2nd printing BACHMAN BOOKS in great condition.

[Randall Flagg]

Being very obtuse when it comes to UK King books-Was "Faithful" even done by a UK publisher?

[carlosdetweiller]

Being very obtuse when it comes to UK King books-Was "Faithful" even done by a UK publisher?

Yes. Weidenfeld & Nicolson.

[Randall Flagg]

Please don't tell me that they did a 100,000 first print run.

[carlosdetweiller]

Please don't tell me that they did a 100,000 first print run.

Ha. I doubt it. I've got an ARC with publisher's promo material laid in and I have seen some other HC editions on ABE and eBay over the years. But I doubt the print run was very many copies. I'm sure it sold about as well as a book on cricket would sell over here.