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16 News " Books can give you two things that nothing else can," lawyer Robert Thake tells me as we meet to chat about his true passions – collecting rare books and uncovering the 'hidden histories' behind some intriguing volumes of Melitensia. "They give you both knowledge, and beauty. No other thing you could acquire will give you both those things at the same time. Art can't give you that, silver can't give you that, antique furniture can't give you that..." Now, I have my reservations about that first example – surely, visual art can contain multitudes of knowledge folded into it – but I keep them to myself, allowing the young book collector and in- dependent researcher to get going about what truly makes him tick. Speaking in terms that could describe either an impassioned, long-term love affair – though Thake's own fiancee, he tells me, has been admirably patient about his "expensive hobby" – or, per- haps more accurately, a bona-fide addiction, Thake explains how his passion for antique books began when he was in college. "I had read Milton's 'Paradise Lost' and fell in love with it. I want- ed to have a closer affinity with it, And since I couldn't exhume the body of John Milton himself..." Thake says with a wry smile, "...I set about trying to acquire an an- tique copy of the book." While a first edition of this game-changing work of English poetry was out of Thake's range, he did manage to find a relatively affordable single volume segment of a two-volume edition, dated 1756. "And when it arrived, I imme- diately scanned through it for my favourite passages... and I haven't looked back since then." Seeing Milton's words on pages that survived centuries of time packed a sizeable emotional wal- lop for Thake. "And that's where my obsession with antique books started." But it was his second acquisition that paved the way to a life-long fascination with and commitment to Melitensia – both as a collector and, eventually, as an author with international accolades and publi- cation credits. Not that he would have guessed it on that fateful day. "I was actually visiting an an- tique shop to buy an old map for my mother's house. But then I no- ticed that the dealer had some old books – nothing terribly interest- ing, but he told me he had more back home." Thake followed the dealer home, initially aiming to purchase a copy of 'The Vertot' – a crucial and controversial piece of Malta's his- tory that Thake would write about years later. However, the book he ended up taking home with him was the Codice de Vilhena – the first book of laws to be published in Malta, in an edition dated 1724 – which piqued Thake's interest, given the legal angle. "The book immediately struck a chord with me, but at the same time, I knew that I would never be able to afford it." But in what turned out to be something of an unexpected portent – at least, Thake looks on it as such – his mother agreed to lend him the money, provided he paid her back in due course. "This came as something of a shock to me, since my mother is the kind of person who really takes good care of her money. And to this day I have no idea why she did it. But the fact that she did made me think, 'this was meant to be'..." Soon, Thake began collecting beyond the niche of legal books, though he did decide to "limit" himself to Melitensia – "in as much as one can use the word 'limit', in this case" – tailing bib- liophile treasures across Europe as he goes. As he claims that "most antique books on Malta, sold in Malta, tend to be unreasonably expensive and in a terrible condi- tion", his top spots for bookshops and auctions – the latter of which he always participates in by phone – tend to be found in the Latin quarter of Paris and London. "Italy is also a good one, though the finds tend to be spread out across Rome, Milan and Paris," he says, before delving into just why owning the physical copies of the book sends an electric chill down his spine. maltatoday SUNDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2018 PHOTO JAMES BIANCHI On the prowl for precious volumes Ignazio Georgio's D. Paulus Apostolus in Mari (Venice, 1730) For lawyer and independent researcher Robert Thake, collecting rare books is more than just an expensive hobby. Recalling globe-trotting adventures in pursuit of rare volumes of Melitensia, he also opens up with TEODOR RELJIC about the stigma of being an 'independent researcher'