The Collectors was published by Warner Books in 2006. Two murders occur simultaneously: the Speaker of the House of Representatives is killed at the Capitol, and Jonathan DeHaven, director of the Rare Books Division at the Library of Congress, dies in his vault. The Camel Club’s Caleb Shaw — who works at the Library — begins investigating DeHaven’s death while Oliver Stone pursues the Speaker’s assassination.
The cases converge: both murders connect to a scheme involving the sale of priceless rare books stolen from the Library of Congress, with the proceeds funding illegal intelligence operations. Baldacci’s research into the rare-book world gives the novel its distinctive texture: the specific procedures of the Library of Congress’s reading room, the economics of rare-book collecting, and the physical details of book preservation become integral to the plot.
The novel satisfies on two levels: as a political thriller with escalating stakes, and as an inside look at the world of institutional rare-book collections — their vulnerabilities, their eccentric personnel, and their astonishing holdings.
Collecting The Collectors
First edition (Warner Books, New York, 2006): Hardcover with dust jacket.
Market values:
- First edition, fine/fine: $15–$35
- Very good/very good: $8–$15