BOOK KLEPTOMANIA

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 22, 26 January 1924, Page 16

BOOK KLEPTOMANIA

A FASCINATION THAT OVER-

POWERS.

/The announcement, is made that during last year a large number of valuable books were stdlen from the renowned Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. Detectives^ have just been ordered to watch -frequenters of the: institution in the hope of. catching ..the book thieves. The stealing'of "books has increased to an astonishing extent since the beginning of the war, declares A.8., in the "Daily Chronicle." Public libraries have suffered a,' good deal from this form of theft, second-hand booksellers have long complained on thi^. score, while club libraries have been victimised to an extent which is not generally realised. But the trouble in the libraries, public and private, is that detection, of the thieves has completely failed. Moreover, the theft of books continues unabated, and all the expedients adopted to discover the-delinquents have been in vain. At some of the big-London clubs these depredations have grown to an amazing, extent. At a famous club in Pall Mall, which possesses a very large library, the thefts have run into' scores of volumes, and the committee are quite baffled in detecting the culprit or culprits. Special watch has been made upon certain members whose eccentric behaviour has given rise to suspicion, but on no occasion has the thief been found, and the continuing disappearance of books "remains a mystery. I In the case of the Bibliotheque Nationale thefts, valuable books and documents have been purloined and the motive of raising money can be taken into I account. But in the club I have referred to, the books stolen, which run'into scores, consist; largely of inexpensive novels, which can have no sale value, so that this explanation is useless. Failing theft for the purpose of obtaining money, what other ' reason- can operate? An acute saying by -Anatole France may throw light upon the matter. Books are the opium of the West, declared the French master of letters, and they exercise" a curious drugging effect upon certain unbalanced minds. Just as the sight of beautiful clothes arouses the instinct of .possession among women, kleptomaniacs, so the presence of books inspires a passion for acquisition in some men. And with these men, as with the women, goes an uncanny artfulness which often succeeds in avoiding I'detection. Whatever the cure may be the disase is there, as all bookmen know. The fascination of books grows and theft increases.