William Jacques

The world is full of bad boys — and admit it ladies, we all secretly (or not so secretly?) want to date them. Rockstars, carjackers, monkey smugglers… I could go on. What is it about these fine men that make them so appealing? God only knows.

But I think I’ve hit the literary bad boy jackpot. And no, I’m not talking about ANY of the Twilight vampires. I did say “literary.” And living/not fictional was implied.

Yesterday, the “tome raider” was put behind bars. Yes, that’s right, Cambridge geek William Jacques (see the earlier MobyLives report on the case) is serving three and a half years in a UK prison for stealing over £40,000 (used to be twice that in dollars, but the pound has fallen on hard times–oh well) in BOOKS!! Yes readers, books. Our very own literary thief. Added perk that he’s British. And even better: this is not the first time that he’s serving time for stealing books. Back in the 1990s (probably clad in flannel instead of tweed), he looted over a £1,000,000 of rare books! Bad boys: they never learn their lessons.

But at least Jacques had taste. All of the stolen volumes were taken from the Royal Horticultural Society Library and included two copies of Sir Isaac Newton‘s Principia Mathematica and a copy of Galileo‘s Sidereus Nuncius. In fact, he was so classy that the Guardian reported that he “used a Cambridge degree and a tweed jacket as a shabby cloak of respectability” and the sentencing judge reprimanded him, “You are a Cambridge graduate and should know better, I suppose.”

Okay, we get it: Cambridge is a big deal over there.

(Fun side note: Prosecutor Gino Connors also took the opportunity to knock one of the major UK publishers: “We are not dealing with Penguin books. We are dealing with very valuable books.” Ouch. The British — they really know how to make a point.)

Anyways, no word on what prison he’s actually being held in, but someone track this one down? Book thieves stealing rare books are a rarity in themselves. I’m sure the letters (emails?) will just flood in. Its a whole new kind of bad boy.