Disappearing Ink

The Insider, the FBI, and the Looting of the Kenyon College Library

De: Travis McDade

Narrado por: James Patrick Cronin

Like many aspiring writers, David Breithaupt had money problems. But what he also had was unsupervised access to one of the finest special collections libraries in the country. In October 1990, Kenyon College hired David Breithaupt as its library's part-time evening supervisor. In April 2000 he was fired after a Georgia librarian discovered him selling a letter by Flannery O'Connor on eBay, but that was only the tip of the iceberg: for the past 10 years, Breithaupt had been browsing the collection, taking from it whatever rare books, manuscripts, and documents caught his eye - Flannery O'Connor letters, W.H. Auden annotated typescripts, a Thomas Pynchon manuscript, and much, much more. It was a large-scale, long-term pillaging of Kenyon College's most precious works. After he was caught, the American justice system looked like it was about to disappoint the college the way it had countless rare book crime victims before - but Kenyon refused to let this happen.

©2015 Travis McDade (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

quick listen

could have been a magazine article but is a decent short listen - not a bad book - enjoyed this listen.

Detailed

Interesting hearing how one man saw an opportunity and took it. What I found most important were the people who bought from him.

This is an audible American Greed.

must read

Just wow! I couldn't believe the scope. easy to hate the antagonist. Heart broke for loss of such treasures

Sad & Tragic Library Book Thefts

This was a sad, strange case. A man and his girlfriend steal valuable works from a college over a period of years. Many books that were sold are gone forever. Since these thefts happened at the dawn of the Internet, much of the thefts could not be traced. The college had little security and the case dragged on for years once the thief was caught. What’s most amazing is that he got off virtually scott free. The girlfriend who was the real mastermind, was never punished and left him to reunite with her ex husband.

Too bad the ink on this didn’t disappear

I did not enjoy this book. It reads like a poorly written newspaper article. It was very, very dry.