Monday, July 12, 2010

Honest Bookseller? GUILTY!


"During the three-week trial Scott [...] painted himself as an honest, if eccentric, book dealer.

He claimed to have been told of the [First Folio] by a Cuban waitress called Heidi Garcia Rios, who introduced him to its owner, a retired major. It had been kept in a wooden Bible box for a century, Scott professed. He said he offered to take it to the Folger Library for authentication as a favour.

When police came to arrest him, Scott told officers: 'I'm an alcoholic and need two bottles of top-of-the-range champagne every day, but only after 6pm. I hope you have some in the police station.'"