Length13h 23m
About this audiobook
Ugly Duckling
He was born in a provincial town of the Russian Empire and died in a New York apartment fifty-seven years later. In between he was a chemist, a conspirator, a prisoner, a fugitive, and the most feared bookman in London.
This is his own account of it, written late and written carefully.
From a fortress cell in Warsaw to a settlement in eastern Siberia; from a back room in Whitechapel to the quiet reading rooms where a century's great collections changed hands without anyone raising their voice. He learned early what a book is worth. He learned later what it costs to want one.
He also learned that the surest way to make a thing valuable is to be the only person alive who knows where it has been.
A memoir of exile, appetite, and the trade in other people's history.
Audiobook details
GenreHistorical Fiction, Other
Length13 hrs 23 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateAug 21, 2026
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Introduction
2Contents
3Before — New Haven, 2024
4Prologue — New Haven, 2024
5Chapter One — Telšiai, 1873
Show all chaptersShow less
6Chapter Two — Suwałki, 1879–1882
7Interlude — Boston, 2024
8Chapter Three — Moscow, 1882–1885
9Chapter Four — The Warsaw Citadel, 1885–1887
10Chapter Five — The March East, and Tunka, 1887–1890
11Interlude — Amsterdam, three weeks after Boston
12Chapter Six — London, 1890–1905
13Interlude — Amsterdam, one week before Boston
14Chapter Seven — Florence, 1903–1911
15Chapter Eight — London, 1909–1912
16Chapter Nine — Castel Gandolfo and London, 1912
17Interlude — Boston, 2am
18Chapter Ten — America, 1914–1921
19Chapter Eleven — New York, 1921–1930
20Chapter Twelve — The Missing Pages
21Chapter Thirteen — The World Looks
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