Reviewed by:

• Bluffing Texas Style: The Arsons, Forgeries and High-Stakes Poker Capers of Rare Book Dealer Johnny Jenkins by Michael Vinson
• Gerald D. Saxon

Oscar Wilde once said that "a mask tells us more than a face," and John H. Jenkins III (called Johnny by his friends), the subject of Michael Vinson's excellent biography, wore many masks in his life. The personas he wanted to project were of a successful businessman, Texas historian and bibliographer, expert rare book dealer, and high-stakes gambler. He was all of these things, but much more, according to Vinson, who gives readers a preview in his title of the arsonist and forger as well as the poker player. Vinson argues that Jenkins was the literary Great Gatsby's "huckster cousin" (181), a man who feared exposure of his many crimes more than the crimes themselves because it would reveal the weak character behind his good-old-boy mask.

Jenkins was born in 1940 in Beaumont, Texas, the only child of John Holmes and Sue Chalmers Jenkins. He often told people that he was "born a trader" (7), and his penchant for coin collecting and selling at a young age bears this out. He was also bookish, keeping lists of books that he had read and his thoughts about them as early as junior high school. He loved history, especially of Texas, the Confederacy, and his family. On the day he graduated from high school, he published his first book, the edited memoirs of his great-great-grandfather, John Holland Jenkins. As a [End Page 373] college student at the University of Texas, he dabbled in selling rare books and coins, and stepped over the line "from poor judgment to larceny" (29).

Although Jenkins became the president of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of Amercan, he was also a risk-taker. This quality solidified his reputation as a creative and successful book dealer when he engineered the largest rare book deal of the twentieth century, the 1975 purchase of the Eberstadt inventory of Americana, which was reported by the New York Times. Risky behavior also cemented his public persona as "Austin Squatty," world-class professional poker player. But taking risks also got him into deep trouble. He sold and was implicated in the selling of numerous forged and stolen documents, including the Texas Declaration of Independence, misrepresented and lied about the quality of items in his catalogs, cheated his customers, amassed more than $1 million in gambling debts, and probably committed arson to help pay them off. He was in over his head and close to indictment for arson of his warehouse and office when he committed suicide by shooting himself at the Colorado River near Bastrop on April 16, 1989.

Vinson's book is well written and exhaustively researched and documented. He scoured Jenkins's personal papers and the private collections of book dealers across the country. He also interviewed Jenkins's supporters and detractors, sleuthed in newspaper and magazine archives, and visited the sites of Jenkins's life. Vinson is the ideal person to write this book. He has worked as a librarian at the DeGolyer Library at Southern Methodist University, which specializes n western Americana, and has been buying and selling Texas and western history documents and books for twenty-five years. In short, he knows the rare book trade inside and out.

Many people in the Texas State Historical Association knew Johnny Jenkins—or at least thought they knew him—and they will want to read this book. It will open their eyes to a man who could be both charming and deceitful. If I have one nit to pick about the book it is that Vinson psychoanalyzes Jenkins at times, saying that he suffered from "histrionic personality disorder," whose symptoms include "excessive attention seeking and deep need of approval from others" (31). While Vinson is practicing psychiatry without a license, I do think that he is absolutely right. [End Page 374]

审核人：

• 虚张声势的德州风格：稀有书籍经销商Johnny Jenkins的纵火，伪造和高赌注扑克刺客，作者Michael Vinson
• 杰拉尔德·萨克森

奥斯卡·王尔德（Oscar Wilde）曾说过：“面具能告诉我们的不仅仅是脸孔。”迈克尔·文森（Michael Vinson）出色传记中的约翰·詹金斯三世（John H. Jenkins III，他的朋友们称约翰尼）在他的一生中戴着许多面具。他想表达的人物是一位成功的商人，德克萨斯州的历史学家和书目作者，稀有的书籍经销商和高赌注的赌徒。Vinson说，他就是所有这些东西，但更多的是，他为读者提供了纵火犯，伪造者以及扑克玩家头衔的预览。文森认为，詹金斯是文学史上“大盖茨比”的“混蛋表弟”（181），比起犯罪本身，他更害怕暴露自己的许多罪行，因为这会暴露出他的好男孩面具背后的虚弱性格。

詹金斯（Jenkins）于1940年出生在得克萨斯州的博蒙特，是约翰·福尔摩斯（John Holmes）和苏·查尔默斯（Sue Chalmers Jenkins）的独生女。他经常告诉人们他“出生于商人”（7），他对硬币收藏和出售的偏爱也证明了这一点。他也很书气，早在初中时就保存了他读过的书的清单以及对书的想法。他热爱历史，尤其是得克萨斯州，联邦和他的家人。在他高中毕业的那天，他出版了他的第一本书，这是他曾曾曾祖父约翰·荷兰·詹金斯（John Holland Jenkins）的编辑回忆录。作为德克萨斯大学的一名[End Page 373]大学生，他涉足销售稀有书籍和硬币，并越过了“从判断力差到盗窃罪”（29）。

尽管詹金斯（Jenkins）成为美国美洲古书商协会的主席，但他还是冒险家。当他设计了20世纪最大的稀有书籍交易（1975年购买了美国的Eberstadt存货）时，这种品质巩固了他作为富有创造力和成功的书商的声誉，《纽约时报》报道了这一点。。冒险行为也巩固了他的公众角色，成为世界级的职业扑克玩家“奥斯丁·斯夸蒂”。但是冒险也使他陷入了深重的麻烦。他出售了许多伪造和被盗文件，包括德克萨斯得克萨斯独立宣言，并对其表述中的物品质量作了虚假陈述和谎言，欺骗了他的客户，积聚了超过100万美元的赌博债务，并且可能犯下了罪行。纵火帮助他们还清。1989年4月16日，他在巴斯特罗普附近的科罗拉多河开枪自杀身亡时，他高耸入云，几乎被控纵火焚烧仓库和办公室。

Vinson的书写得很好，并进行了详尽的研究和记录。他搜寻了詹金斯的个人论文和全国各地图书经销商的私人藏书。他还采访了詹金斯（Jenkins）的支持者和批评者，并在报纸和杂志档案中进行了侦探，并参观了詹金斯（Jenkins）的生活场所。Vinson是写这本书的理想人选。他曾在美国南部西部专门研究南卫理公会大学的DeGolyer图书馆担任馆员，并从事买卖德克萨斯和西方历史文献和书籍已有25年。简而言之，他知道内外都有罕见的书籍交易。

德克萨斯州历史协会的许多人都知道约翰尼·詹金斯（Johnny Jenkins），或者至少以为他们认识他，所以他们会想读这本书。它会让一个既迷人又欺骗的男人睁开眼睛。如果我有话要说，那是Vinson有时对詹金斯进行心理分析，说他患有“组织型人格障碍”，其症状包括“寻求过多注意力和对他人的强烈认可”（31）。Vinson在没有执照的情况下从事精神病学研究，但我确实认为他是绝对正确的。[结束页374]