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Article: THE PAGE-TURNING EXPLOITS OF A LITERARY SLEUTH
- Article from:
- The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)
- Article date:
- February 5, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1997 The Boston Globe. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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He drinks gin by the gallon, and though one might expect alcohol
to impede his sexual performance, he is catnip to comely females. He
smokes crumpled cigarettes fished from the depths of huge pockets.
He speaks with the assurance of the born pedant: "Do you know what
this is?" someone asks, showing him an engraving. "Yes, of course,"
he declares. "The Oedipus Aegiptiacus by Atanasius Kircher."
His name is Lucas Corso and he's a rare-book scout. His clientele
are "jackals on the scent of the Gutenberg Bible, antique-fair
sharks, auction-room leeches. . . . They never get their hands -- or
their consciences -- dirty. That's what men like Corso are for."
As the tone of this description ...