Skip to content

     
Limit search to available items
Limited to: Words in the TITLE "map thief"
Search LINK+ Catalog
Book Cover
BOOK/MAGAZINE
Author Blanding, Michael, author.

Title The map thief : the gripping story of an esteemed rare-map dealer who made millions stealing priceless maps / Michael Blanding.

Publication Info. New York, New York : Gotham Books, [2014]

Copies

Location Call No. Public Note Status
 West Sacramento Adult Nonfiction  364.16289 BLA    CHECK SHELVES
Description xvi, 300 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm
Content type text rdacontent
Format volume rdacarrier
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents Selected mapmakers, 1470-1860 -- The explorer and the thief -- Small hope -- A new world -- Who knows the most wins -- Catalog number one -- Playing hardball -- Upward departure -- The battle of Sebec -- Missing maps, missing cards -- Caught! -- The plea -- Map quest -- Terra incognita -- Maps Smiley admitted stealing -- Additional maps libraries reported missing.
Summary This is 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 viewers, both 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. This book delves into the untold history of this fascinating high-stakes criminal and the inside story of the industry that consumed him. The author, a reporter and magazine writer, 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, the author is the first reporter to explore the story in full, and had the rare privilege of having access to Smiley himself after he had 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 more, and offer intriguing clues to prove it. Now, through a series of exclusive interviews with Smiley and other key individuals, the author teases out an astonishing tale of destruction and redemption. The story interweaves Smiley's escapades with the stories of the explorers and mapmakers he knew better than anyone. Tracking a series of brazen thefts, and an obsessive subculture, the author has pieced together an unforgettable story of high-stakes crime. -- Provided by publisher.
Subject Smiley, E. Forbes.
Map dealers -- United States.
Map industry and trade -- United States.
Map thefts -- United States.
Book thefts -- United States.
BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Criminals & Outlaws.
BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / General.
ISBN 9781592408177 hardback
1592408176 hardback