6,870,000 pageviews


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


No comments:

Post a Comment