Stephen Blumberg
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Stephen Blumberg (born St. Paul, Minnesota) was an eccentric bibliokleptomaniac who lived in Ottumwa, Iowa. He was arrested for stealing more than 20,000 rare and other valuable books (often, much as they were to him alone) along with 10,000 manuscripts from 140 or more universities in 45 states and Canada. (One report said they were taken from 327 libraries and museums.) Their value was placed at about $20 million USD, which made it the largest book theft in the country. In July 2003 he was convicted again of a separate but much less noteworthy crime. The collection has been referred to as the "Blumberg Collection."
[edit] Further reading
- Basbanes, Nicholas A. A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books. New York: Holt, 1999 ISBN 0-8050-6176-2
