In his weekly Takimag column, our bibliophile doctor informs us of the disappearance of an entire archive related to terrorism at the University of Leicester’s library.

Book burning, which Heine warned led eventually to the incineration of people, is essentially futile, at least in the long run, for it is rarely that every last copy of any book can be burnt; the burnt book is able to take its revenge by reappearing at some time in the future. Far worse than book burning, then, is the loss of an archive that contains unique and original documents.