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Re: The Island of Lost Maps



Julie-

I read the book about a month ago, and enjoyed it.  I wonder if Mr. Harvey felt it necessary to "pad" the book with a few related issues to beef it up a bit.  Still, it's a small book, and I got through it in 3 or 4 days.  As a librarian it caused me to wonder about this issue- the fact that we look out for item theft but not always item mutilation.  I enjoyed, too, the descriptions of some of the public and private libraries mentioned in the book.  It's an interesting read, for anyone interested in maps, libraries, and archives.

Steve Cox
Fremont, NE

"Kerssen, Julie" wrote:

 

Has anyone on the list read _The Island of Lost Maps_ by Miles Harvey?  It rambles quite a bit, but the core of the (nonfiction) book is the story of Gilbert Bland, who was arrested several years ago after stealing historic maps from libraries all over North America.  The author talks about how the popularity of eBay and the Antiques Roadshow is putting archival collections in more danger, as interest in -- and prices for -- old documents, maps, books, and so on continue to rise.  He also claims that some libraries refused to admit they had anything stolen, presumably so as not to frighten off potential donors.  However, this meant that they were not able to get their maps back once they had been recovered (since they insisted they weren't missing).  If true, I think this is somewhat disturbing.

Has anyone else read the book?  What did you think?  I personally could have done without the digressions into sea monsters and the Hardy Boys, but the story of the thief was interesting, as were the security issues the case raises.  I'm especially interested to hear whether anyone from the libraries that were "hit" have read the book, and whether they thought Harvey's condemnation of library security procedures was fair.

Julie Kerssen
King County, WA