Noble Fragments: The maverick who broke up the world's greatest book - Michael Visontay

Noble Fragments: The maverick who broke up the world's greatest book - Michael VisontayOne hundred years ago, Gabriel Wells, a New York bookseller, committed a crime against history. He broke up the world's greatest book, the Gutenberg Bible, and sold it off in individual pages. This is the story of an Australian man's hunt for those fragments and his family's debt to an act of literary vandalism. In 1921, Well's audacity scandalised the rare book world. The Gutenberg was the first substantial book in Europe to have been printed on a

One hundred years ago, Gabriel Wells, a New York bookseller, committed a crime against history. He broke up the world's greatest book, the Gutenberg Bible, and sold it off in individual pages. This is the story of an Australian man's hunt for those fragments and his family's debt to an act of literary vandalism.

In 1921, Well's audacity scandalised the rare-book world. The Gutenberg was the first substantial book in Europe to have been printed on a printing press. It represented the democratisation of knowledge and was the Holy Grail of rare books.

Was the break-up a sacrilege or a canny deal? New Yorkers were divided. For every frown of disapproval, there was a lick of the lips. It was the Roaring Twenties, the Gatsby era of fabulous wealth. Tycoons were in a feeding frenzy to acquire items that would demonstrate their refinement. Wells marketed the pages as 'Noble Fragments', they sold like hot cakes, and he died a rich man.

Half a century later, Sydney journalist Michael Visontay stumbled upon a mysterious legal document that linked Wells to his own family. He became obsessed by the Gutenberg's invisible imprint on his life, and set out to track down the pages of the broken bible.

Part detective story and part memoir, Noble Fragments is an expedition into the arcane world of book collectors and their eccentric passions, and a journey of discovery about how Wells's gamble set off a chain of events that changed a family's destiny.


' Visontay's search would take him down a winding, unexpected path - one that circled the globe and the centuries, was peopled with a staggeringly varied cast of characters, and involved one of the most notorious acts of literary vandalism ever perpetrated.'
-Sadie Stein, The New York Times

' An absorbing investigation ... In his book, Mr. Visontay weaves his family history into an account of Wells's brazen business move.'
-Barbara Spindel, The Wall Street Journal

'For Michael Visontay, the story of the fragments is more than an intriguing historical drama ... Visontay deftly unfolds his moving family story as he tracks down what became of the fragments.'
-Cameron Woodhead, The Age & The Sydney Morning Herald

Scribe Publishing 2024, paperback