000			02054nam a2200241 a 4500
001			044875
005			20231009192739.0
008			180705s20002000usa 000 u eng d
020			_a9780783893891
082	1		_aLARP 025.8 HAR _2
100	1		_aHarvey, Miles
245	1	0	_aThe island of lost maps : _ba true story of cartographic crime _c/ Miles Harvey
260			_aThorndike, ME _b: G.K. Hall & Co. _c, 2000
300			_a445 p. _c; 24 cm.
520			_aThe Island of Lost Maps is the story of a curious crime spree: the theft of scores of valuable centuries-old maps from some of the most prominent research libraries in the United States and Canada. The perpetrator was the Al Capone of cartography, a man with the unlikely name of Gilbert Bland, Jr., an enigmatic antiques dealer from south Florida whose cross-country slash-and-dash operation went virtually undetected until he was caught in December 1995. This is also the story of Miles Harvey's quest to understand America's greatest map thief, a chameleon who changed careers and families without ever looking back. Filling in Bland's life was like filling in a map, and grew from an investigation into an intellectual adventure. Harvey listens to the fury of the librarians from whom Bland stole. He introduces us to America's foremost map mogul, a millionaire maverick who predicted the boom in map collecting. He retraces Bland's life, from his run-ins with the law to his troubled service in Vietnam. And finally, with the aid of an FBI agent, Harvey discovers the Island of Lost Maps. The deeper Miles Harvey investigates, the more we are drawn into this fascinating subculture of collectors, experts, and enthusiasts, all of them gripped by an obsession both surreal and sublime.
546			_aEnglish.
650		4	_aLibraries _z-United States _x-Special collections _x-Maps _x-History _y-20th century.
650		4	_aMap thefts _z-United States _x-History _y-20th century.
655		4	_aLarge type books
700	1		_aBland, Gilbert Lee Joseph.
942			_cMO
999			_c250682 _d250682