The map Thief : : the Gripping Story of an Esteemed Rare-Map Dealer who Made Millions Stealing Priceless Maps

Locations
Call Number: 364.162 Bl
On Shelf At: Downtown Library

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	364.162 Bl	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	364.162 Bl	4-week checkout	On Shelf

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.
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.

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