Ex-Libris

by Ross King

Paperback, 2002

Status

Available

Call number

823.914

Genres

Collection

Your library

Publication

Penguin Books (2002), Edition: Reprint, Paperback, 400 pages

Description

Responding to a cryptic summons to a remote country house, London bookseller Isaac Inchbold finds himself responsible for restoring a magnificent library pillaged during the English Civil War, and in the process slipping from the surface of 1660s London into an underworld of spies and smugglers, ciphers and forgeries. As he assembles the fragments of a complex historical mystery, Inchbold learns how Sir Ambrose Plessington, founder of the library, escaped from Bohemia on the eve of the Thirty Years War with plunder from the Imperial Library. Inchbold's hunt for one of these stolen volumes - a lost Hermetic text - soon casts him into an elaborate intrigue; his fortunes hang on the discovery of the missing manuscript but his search reveals that the elusive volume is not what it seems and that he has been made an unwitting player in a treacherous game.… (more)

Media reviews

literaturkritik.de

Neben der Beschreibung der Stationen des 30jährigen Krieges dient der Roman vorzüglich als Einführung in das Geistesleben des 17. Jahrhunderts. Anhand damals tatsächlich existierenden Schriftguts führt Inchbold nicht nur in die Auseinandersetzung der Kirche mit Galilei und anderen

vermeintlichen Ketzern ein, er liefert auch eine kleine Bibliographie zu verschiedenen Lebensbereichen. Er zitiert Werke der Geographie, Navigation und des Okkultismus. Eine Geheimschrift wird so unter Zuhilfenahme des "systeme Vigenere" geknackt, nachdem "Caesars Alphabet" Inchbold nicht weiterbringt. Insgesamt ein wunderbarer Roman über die Welt des Buches.

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User reviews

LibraryThing member gbonnycastle

I commend Ross King's rich vocabulary, dipping effortlessly into the arcane language of bookbinding, alchemy, shipbuilding and navigation; his command of Seventeenth Century history; his familiarity with the buildings and alleyways of London and Prague; his magical ability to conjure long-dead

tastes, smells and sounds. But labouring through this book is like walking knee-deep in sucking mud. Every chapter swings from one plot to another metronomically, every character is a passive pawn of inexplicable circumstance, every plot thread is overburdened with pages of historical explanation. The ludicrous plot turns out to be a sham in the end, the heroine disappears from the narrative for most of the middle of the book, and the dread agents of evil in pursuit of the hero are swept away in the end by a deus ex machina just in the nick of time. The weak plot and unmotivated characters fail to support the dense architecture of historical fact built over them, and the entire story simply crumbles into waterlogged earth like Pontifex Hall in the final chapters.

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19 more

LibraryThing member John

Another of the literary-mystery genre, again set in England in the 1600s (around 1660) following the English Civil War (see An Instance of the Fingerpost). Isaac Inchbold is a London bookseller (whose shop is on the London Bridge!), whose happy, secluded and quiet life is thrown into turmoil when

he one day receives a mysterious summons from Lady Marchamount, mistress of a destroyed country mansion that she says she is determined to restore to its original splendour. And the core of the house is a magnificent library with a vast number and wide range of ancient texts in all fields. Isaac is commissioned to try to find one particular book that has disappeared from the library, an ancient text of superstitions/descriptions that has been banned by the Vatican. This leads Isaac into a world of spies and thieves and thugs that he is ill-equipped to handle, and interwoven throughout the story is another, from the past, about the saving of the Imperial library from Prague during the Thirty Years War which is all tied up with the founding of Lady Marchamount's library. There is thundering climax when Isaac finally figures out that Lady Marchamount has not been entirely honest with him, and a confrontation with the bad guys takes place as the ancient mansion is literally falling apart, walls crashing, roofs collapsing, and huge ditches opening.

The book conveys well the sense and sounds and smells of living in London in the 1660s, and of the terrors of something like the Thirty Years War. It is hard, from the modern perspective, to appreciate the fact that people would easily kill others on the basis of religious differences. The book is a cornucopia of information on ancient texts of all kinds, the history of the pillage of great libraries across centuries, Sir Walter Raleigh's explorations of the new world, the marvels of the discovery of how to measure longitude, etc, etc. One sometimes gets the impression, at least I did, that the author had done so much research that he was bound and determined to display it. At 380 pages the book could have been at least a hundred pages shorter which would have given a tighter story. In fact the convolutions of the two plots (the rescue of the library and Isaac's adventures) are sometimes overdone and the thread gets a little lost.

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LibraryThing member DinadansFriend

I had a good time in this murder mystery full of Cryptographic, Bibliographic and cartographic details. It should be re-issued and will do well.

LibraryThing member randalrh

A nice historical mystery involving lots of period detail, with good plotting and mostly interesting characters. The breadth of historical context King manages to fit in is impressive.

LibraryThing member daddyofattyo

Slow and difficult read, despite the subject that should be mesmerizing - BOOKS! But drowned in so much detailed historical politics of it's day, the plot was hard to keep track of, impossible to tell at times who the good guys are vs. bad. Even the second main character, Alethea, by the end of the

story, was still a mystery. I think she is suppossed to be heroic cultural defender, but the fact that she made Inchbold jump through misleading hoops throughout the entire story, just left her antigonistic, without clearly explaining why what she did was necessary. I just felt like his entire narrative was a wild goose chase with the object remaining almost as much a mystery in the end, as it was in the beginning. While the writing was very evocative - I could feel how it was to live in that day and age - it made me go to the dictionary a little too often, and left me completely baffled as to all the various political and religous factions, even though I was pretty familiar with the history of that era (having read all of Dumas, Verne, some Stenhal and Hugo). Would not recommend the book nor would ever reread it.

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LibraryThing member armchairreader

I got so tired of this book but pushed through it to the end--wish I hadn't bothered. He has some interesting ideas but the plot is weak and it gets lost among all the period facts and details. It was frustrating!

LibraryThing member trav

I really wanted to like this book. It had all the right pieces to be a great story. There's a book seller, Bookman's row, mystery, lost manuscripts, etc. But it just didn't grab me.

I realize there are a bazillion folks out there who love this book. But by the end, I was just ready for it to be

over.

There are two stories moving forward in this book. With each chapter you're either in one or the other. Maybe it was King's way of flipping back and forth that turned me off. Or the way he waits so long to show the connections.

I just didn't find myself interested enough in the possible connections to really care.

If you like books about books and period pieces you might like this book. I did enjoy some of the descriptions of old dirty London and the old dirty bookstalls.
I may give it a go again, sometime in the future. I mean a bazillion folks can't all be wrong, can they?

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LibraryThing member JeffBowan

Really wanted to like this book---loved Mich and the Pope's Ceiling---but I found it a little wanting in the end.

LibraryThing member Clurb

Murder, intruige, dastardly scoundrels and lots and lots of books.

LibraryThing member P_S_Patrick

This wasn't a bad read all in all. There was a reasonable amount of action, suspense, and mystery, but the plot suffered due to the ending. The main themes covered here were books, the age of discovery, and the factional turbulence of the 17th century. If you enjoy books about books, and those set

in this period, then you should enjoy this. The style of the writing was good, and didn't let the book down, I liked the way the author switched between the two chains of events that were going on in different times, as it helped to keep up the pace of the book.

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LibraryThing member jmaloney17

This was a pretty good Hist. Fic. book. I was definately interested in the mystery behind the "book" that was being searched for. Though I often thought that the book was trying too hard to be intelligent. I got a little frustrated with all the sailing lingo. I had no idea what they were talking

about. I also thought that the author rushed the ending a bit. A- for mystery and intreguing story. C- for too much sailor speak.

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LibraryThing member neringros

Interesting plot, but just sooo boring, would have been a really good book if edited down to a third, say...

LibraryThing member chmessing

Couldn't finish this one. The writing was a bit choppy for me and the plight of the characters didn't draw me in. Based on the synopsis of the story, I should have LOVED this book, but it was sadly sub-par.

LibraryThing member JBD1

One of the better literary thrillers out there. Highly recommended.

LibraryThing member EJStevens

Ex Libris opens in the year 1660 with the character of Isaac Inchbold, widower and proprietor of Nonesuch Books located upon London Bridge. Isaac Inchbold, an agoraphobic London bookseller, is happily going about his sheltered existence when he receives a mysterious letter from an even more

mysterious Lady Marchamont. Upon his summons to Pontifex Hall Inchbold learns that Lady Marchamont wishes him to begin a search for the manuscript The Labyrinth of the World. Inchbold surprises himself by accepting the Lady's commission and embarks on an adventure full of assassins, crypts, political intrigue, and secret codes.

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LibraryThing member bookczuk

I really wanted to like this one. There were lots of individual details that were nice to stumble into, but somehow the end results didn't blend into a tale that captured my attention. It seemed like it would have all the right ingredients: English history, mystery, books, but it didn't work for me.

LibraryThing member EllsbethB

This book has some useful insights on the history of the Catholic vs. Protestant conflicts in Europe. The narrative was a bit fuzzy at times. I think I liked the concept of the book more than the book itself.

LibraryThing member Charon07

I was rather disappointed by this book. A historic mystery involving a library, a mysterious woman, a swashbuckling adventurer, espionage, and secret books—how could you go wrong? Ross King manages to, though. An unexpectedly somber ending seemed totally inappropriate for the amusing, sometimes

comic, story that precedes. The convoluted resolution, including the destinies of some key characters, was abruptly and unsatisfyingly explained to us like a history lesson in the final few pages. By the end, I was quite confused, but that was okay because I just didn't care.

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LibraryThing member liehtzu

Love this book's and the author's impressive command and use of the English language, fine historian too. The plot and characterisation were of such a high standard that the denouement was, ever so slightly, below par. I still recommend it highly in the 'Increase Your Word-power' genre and I'll

look forward to more.

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LibraryThing member dono421846

The language and detail demonstrates the deep command the author holds over the relevant materials. The result is the evocation of a real world that actually exists. Plot-wise, I feel the setup is brilliant and intriguing, albeit slightly disappointing in conclusion. What would have been nice, I

think, is an author's note identifying what parts are genuine historical facts, and which are invention.

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