This article in the Guardian - Book world's silence helps tome raiders - reminded me of a great article a couple of years ago by William Finnegan in the New Yorker (sadly not online). The article described a man who stole rare maps from libraries by visiting their reading rooms with a length of string secreted in the pocket of his cheek: he would order a book, lay the wet string along the edge of a page he wanted, close the book and wait until the paper weakened, quietly rip out the page, and then discreetly leave the building. Since then I've looked in askance at bulgy-cheeked library visitors.
In other links: Hendrik Hertzberg dissects that inauguration speech, and kittens poke fun at museums (via WACTAC)
No comments:
Post a Comment