http://www.wordsources.info/words-mod-kleptomaniaPt1.html[/caption]Bibliokleptomania - an abnormal compulsion to steal books. (from The Free Dictionary by Farlex)
This bibliomania is a true mental illness, though it isn't a good insanity defense in court. In medieval times books were protected from bibliokleptomainiacs by book curses which were written in a book, most often the colophon, and promised bodily harm and damnation to the thief. Such curses are rarely used today when libraries and book collectors depend on security systems and locked doors to protect their rare collections.
To hear some tales about notorious bibliokleptomaniacs I would suggest reading Lindra Henrick's Cerebral Boinkfest blog post from January 1st, 2011 titled "Bibliokleptomania". She relates the stories of a thief who stole books from a neglected monastic library in order to restore and preserve them, and a book seller who murdered his customers in order to get his books back from them, among other true tales of bibliokleptomania.
To read a few examples of book curses see the blog post from June 10, 2012 titled "Book Curses, Medieval Scribes and a thought on book care…" on Lux Mentis, Lux Orbis...Rare Books, Random Thoughts.
Next week I will continue the exploration with Bibliotaphy, book hiding.
~Sara Pitcher, archives assistant
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