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Saturday, August 21, 2021

When Book Thieves Were Reviled

In 1907, a Dallas Morning News editorial ranked the Library Book Thief as "probably the meanest thief God ever let live on Earth. The person who takes advantage of a collection of books maintained by the decent people of a city, under universal tax for the benefit of all, and steals a volume that better people need makes fallen angels weep." The editorial went on to note that "God is supposed to know everything, maybe he knows why such people exist--but no one else does. Perhaps these people--like the dog poisoners, whom they resemble--inhabit the earth merely to teach humility to those of us who are apt sometimes to think too complacently of human nature..."

Travis McDade, Thieves of Book Row, 2013


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