I am delighted to report that this day is an observance of what the word actually means, which is a mental disorder obsession with books, not just a love of them. (That’s bibliophilia.)

This day commemorates the weird story of Stephen Blumberg of Iowa, who stole more than 23,000 books worth about $13 million (in today’s money) over something like a 30-year period.

So, this guy. He was a trust fund baby from a rich family. He was born in 1948 and grew up in St. Paul, where he apparently became accustomed to taking nice old stuff like windows and hardware off of old Victorian houses slated for demolition. An affinity for Victorian architecture led him to an affinity for rare books, which he also took home for his personal collection—only the books weren’t from abandoned libraries, they were expensive and coveted items from universities and libraries. He looted something like 200 libraries across the United States and Canada and just threw them on the shelves of his own house—not trying to resell, not trying to ransom, just “mine now.” Eventually, he got ratted out by a friend and fellow criminal for a tidy reward of $56,000. (No honor, I tell ya!)

During his trial in 1991, his doctor described a whole menu of psych problems this guy had: He was schizophrenic, delusional, compulsive. The doctor said Blumberg believed the government was trying to prevent people from having access to this stuff. (I don’t know if anyone asked how people were supposed to get to it in his private residence … I would have!) Apparently Blumberg said he figured the stuff would be returned to the rightful owners (presumably NOT the libraries) after he died.

Yeah, that didn’t fly. Dude went to jail for four years. He was busted again ten years later for stealing antiques from people’s houses.

Unfortunately, I could not find anything about where the man is these days. Someone do a podcast or write a book about this guy for me! I would totally cough up for book-length details about this guy!

Tell you what: Find me any details about this guy from this decade, and I’ll send you a book! You won’t even have to steal it!