4 ms·

Shinn’s motel room contained 26 stolen books and a file full of inventory cards for another 154 volumes. He was well-educated in book history, restoration and b

by Mz 9y ago

Shinn’s motel room contained 26 stolen books and a file full of inventory cards for another 154 volumes. He was well-educated in book history, restoration and binding, and the tools of his trade filled the room: color-stained cloths and Q-tips with jars of shoe polish, used to color-match and conceal library markings on book spines. I was raised with a certain respect for books, but my ex was a great deal more of a bibliophile than I am. He set a very high bar for how to handle and store books carefully and respectfully. Our home was full of little bibliophile accessories, like bookmarks and book darts and special magnifying glasses. The above paragraph strikes a certain horror in me and makes me imagine my ex being inspired to violence in the face of it.

cr0sh 9y ago
> The above paragraph strikes a certain horror in me So you prefer a library's handling of a book over a restoration? I'm not trying to defend the guy's actions - I just find your reaction curious. As a bibliophile myself (though certainly not one like your ex - I certainly wasn't aware of such a thing as "book darts", and I certainly know nothing about "special magnifying glasses"), who along with my wife own a quite large collection of fiction and non-fiction books, I find that - while I understand the purpose - libraries tend to treat books poorly (to a certain extent) in the effort to catalog and preserve them; however, without these efforts, the books couldn't be shared and cataloged properly. Things have gotten better with the addition of barcodes (I wonder if hi-density QR codes have been used?), but practices of the past still linger. Shinn's efforts - though put to the purposes of deception and fraud - to an extent possibly made the books more aesthetically pleasing. If there is "horror" to be considered, it would be whether or not doing what he did caused ruin to the book, which would depend on his skills and the book of course. For instance, having the original pages, even with markings, is likely of more value than having restored pages, though the restored pages might be better to look upon (and he must have been able to do and exceedingly fine job, in order for the books to pass the scrutiny of collectors and such paying top-dollar for the books). It's really too bad he went this route with his life; given the little I know from this article, it sounds like his talents could have been most useful for book restoration and preservation efforts...
- Mz 9y ago
  He did things like buy books full of illustrations, took them apart entirely and sold each plate individually because this was essentially untraceable (IIRC). He was not lovingly restoring these books. He was a book predator and the object was financial gain. My reaction is more to the idea of seeing this stuff and knowing the intent was not at all good. Kind of like the movie scene showing instruments that make it clear the Morlocks eat humans and these instruments are used to kill them, prepare them as meat, etc. I have no fear of, say, knives per se. But in a certain context, it becomes clear what the intent of the instrument is and this can be horrifying.
- mannykannot 9y ago
  > So you prefer a library's handling of a book over a restoration? This is a false dichotomy, but I will nevertheless say that I do prefer a library's approach of treating books as 'living' artifacts that attest to history, rather than being objects of purely aesthetic appreciation. (Maybe that's also a false dichotomy ;-) I think we can all agree that they should not be treated as a resource to be strip-mined for profit. Speaking for myself, that extends to the whole process of destroying rare books for their more aesthetically valuable components, even if done legally.
- pmiller2 9y ago
  I find it interesting that collectors of various sorts seem to be split on whether restoration is desirable or not. Certain collecting hobbies value originality above all else, and a piece restored in any way would be considered worth less than the same piece in original, unrestored condition. Sometimes certain limited types of restoration or conservation are allowed while either helping or at least not hurting the value of the piece, and other times, a restored piece can be worth more than one in an original but damaged condition. How does it work with rare books?

by Mz 9y ago

cr0sh 9y ago

> The above paragraph strikes a certain horror in me So you prefer a library's handling of a book over a restoration? I'm not trying to defend the guy's actions - I just find your reaction curious. As a bibliophile myself (though certainly not one like your ex - I certainly wasn't aware of such a thing as "book darts", and I certainly know nothing about "special magnifying glasses"), who along with my wife own a quite large collection of fiction and non-fiction books, I find that - while I understand the purpose - libraries tend to treat books poorly (to a certain extent) in the effort to catalog and preserve them; however, without these efforts, the books couldn't be shared and cataloged properly. Things have gotten better with the addition of barcodes (I wonder if hi-density QR codes have been used?), but practices of the past still linger. Shinn's efforts - though put to the purposes of deception and fraud - to an extent possibly made the books more aesthetically pleasing. If there is "horror" to be considered, it would be whether or not doing what he did caused ruin to the book, which would depend on his skills and the book of course. For instance, having the original pages, even with markings, is likely of more value than having restored pages, though the restored pages might be better to look upon (and he must have been able to do and exceedingly fine job, in order for the books to pass the scrutiny of collectors and such paying top-dollar for the books). It's really too bad he went this route with his life; given the little I know from this article, it sounds like his talents could have been most useful for book restoration and preservation efforts...

Mz 9y ago
He did things like buy books full of illustrations, took them apart entirely and sold each plate individually because this was essentially untraceable (IIRC). He was not lovingly restoring these books. He was a book predator and the object was financial gain. My reaction is more to the idea of seeing this stuff and knowing the intent was not at all good. Kind of like the movie scene showing instruments that make it clear the Morlocks eat humans and these instruments are used to kill them, prepare them as meat, etc. I have no fear of, say, knives per se. But in a certain context, it becomes clear what the intent of the instrument is and this can be horrifying.
mannykannot 9y ago
> So you prefer a library's handling of a book over a restoration? This is a false dichotomy, but I will nevertheless say that I do prefer a library's approach of treating books as 'living' artifacts that attest to history, rather than being objects of purely aesthetic appreciation. (Maybe that's also a false dichotomy ;-) I think we can all agree that they should not be treated as a resource to be strip-mined for profit. Speaking for myself, that extends to the whole process of destroying rare books for their more aesthetically valuable components, even if done legally.
pmiller2 9y ago
I find it interesting that collectors of various sorts seem to be split on whether restoration is desirable or not. Certain collecting hobbies value originality above all else, and a piece restored in any way would be considered worth less than the same piece in original, unrestored condition. Sometimes certain limited types of restoration or conservation are allowed while either helping or at least not hurting the value of the piece, and other times, a restored piece can be worth more than one in an original but damaged condition. How does it work with rare books?