![The Map Thief: The Gripping Story of an Esteemed Rare-Map Dealer Who Made](https://d3525k1ryd2155.cloudfront.net/f/177/408/9781592408177.PE.0.l.jpg)
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different
The Map Thief: The Gripping Story of an Esteemed Rare-Map Dealer Who Made Millions Stealing Priceless Maps Hardcover - 2014
by Michael Blanding
- Used
- Hardcover
- Signed
- first
Description
New
NZ$83.39
NZ$8.34
Shipping to USA
Standard delivery: 7 to 14 days
More Shipping Options
Standard delivery: 7 to 14 days
Ships from Griffin Books (Connecticut, United States)
Details
- Title The Map Thief: The Gripping Story of an Esteemed Rare-Map Dealer Who Made Millions Stealing Priceless Maps
- Author Michael Blanding
- Binding Hardcover
- Edition First Edition
- Condition New
- Pages 320
- Volumes 1
- Language ENG
- Publisher Avery, New York
- Date 2014-05-29
- Bookseller's Inventory # 109215
- ISBN 9781592408177 / 1592408176
- Weight 1.2 lbs (0.54 kg)
- Dimensions 9.1 x 6 x 1.3 in (23.11 x 15.24 x 3.30 cm)
- Ages 18 to UP years
- Grade levels 13 - UP
- Library of Congress Catalog Number 2014005305
- Dewey Decimal Code B
About Griffin Books Connecticut, United States
Biblio member since 2003
General stock of approximately 12,000 titles with a concentration in non-fiction. The more unsual the better if we can find it. We are always buying libraries and collections in the Greater NYC and CT area including Fairfield, New Haven and Westchester counties.
Return Policy: All items subject to prior sale. Returns are accepted with prior notification within 10 days of your receipt for items returned in the same condition.
Summary
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 viewersboth 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. The Map Thief delves into the untold history of this fascinating high-stakes criminal and the inside story of the industry that consumed him.
Acclaimed reporter Michael Blanding 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, Blanding is the first reporter to explore the story in fulland had the rare privilege of having access to Smiley himself after he’d 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 moreand offer intriguing clues to prove it. Now, through a series of exclusive interviews with Smiley and other key individuals, Blanding teases out an astonishing tale of destruction and redemption.
The Map Thief interweaves Smiley’s escapades with the stories of the explorers and mapmakers he knew better than anyone. Tracking a series of thefts as brazen as the art heists in Provenance and a subculture as obsessive as the oenophiles in The Billionaire’s Vinegar, Blanding has pieced together an unforgettable story of high-stakes crime.
Maps have long exerted a special fascination on viewersboth 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. The Map Thief delves into the untold history of this fascinating high-stakes criminal and the inside story of the industry that consumed him.
Acclaimed reporter Michael Blanding 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, Blanding is the first reporter to explore the story in fulland had the rare privilege of having access to Smiley himself after he’d 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 moreand offer intriguing clues to prove it. Now, through a series of exclusive interviews with Smiley and other key individuals, Blanding teases out an astonishing tale of destruction and redemption.
The Map Thief interweaves Smiley’s escapades with the stories of the explorers and mapmakers he knew better than anyone. Tracking a series of thefts as brazen as the art heists in Provenance and a subculture as obsessive as the oenophiles in The Billionaire’s Vinegar, Blanding has pieced together an unforgettable story of high-stakes crime.