.jpg "Two self-portraits by the caricaturist Max Beerbohm, The Theft and The Restitution; the former depicts him stealing a book from a library in 1894, the latter is him returning it in 1920. I have no idea if he really did this or not, but it’s a nice story, oddly apt perhaps when one considers the profession of the satirist — always a young man’s game, one that begins with the ironic glance over a cold shoulder, a moral self-righteousness clutched close to the heart.
As minor misdemeanours go, I can hardly imagine anything so dishonest, selfish and thoughtless as stealing a book from a library. Even if it has crossed my own mind many times.")
Two self-portraits by the caricaturist Max Beerbohm, The Theft and The Restitution; the former depicts him stealing a book from a library in 1894, the latter is him returning it in 1920. I have no idea if he really did this or not, but it’s a nice story, oddly apt perhaps when one considers the profession of the satirist — always a young man’s game, one that begins with the ironic glance over a cold shoulder, a moral self-righteousness clutched close to the heart.
As minor misdemeanours go, I can hardly imagine anything so dishonest, selfish and thoughtless as stealing a book from a library. Even if it has crossed my own mind many times.
