Just read this article, which explains how an ex-Catholic priest sold rare early books he obtained from English Catholic religious institutions (like convents) to American libraries (1/x) https://www.jstor.org/stable/43899090?seq=1
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He did this in order to personally enrich himself after he had left the Church and was married w children. He sold books that had often been *loaned* to him, after he explained (while still a priest) that was creating an 'official centre for recusant studies for the whole south of England'. (2/x)
Honestly I'm feeling irrational levels of rage on behalf of the religious communities whose #earlymodern book and also mss collections he decimated (and I imagine they were/are also pissed off but are more holy about it all). Dickhead! Lol.
I found this so unbelievably sad and appalling. A letter from one convent, asking for a catalogue of the books that were on loan (sent after he had left the Church and had actually started selling them) was particularly heart-breaking. (3/3)
WHY MUST PEOPLE BE SO AWFUL https://www.jstor.org/stable/43899090?seq=6
Terrible. I used to work for the Manchester Library Service when it turned out someone had been selling special collections on eBay. He was only apprehended when a collector got in touch with Chetham's Library for advice about what to do when he saw them for sale. It felt like such a betrayal.
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WHY MUST PEOPLE BE SO AWFUL https://www.jstor.org/stable/43899090?seq=6