The best burglar in the county

'This book is written to celebrate the centenary of the Northamptonshire Record Society, founded in December 1920 by Joan Wake. She pioneered the idea of preserving records in the county, turning up at the door of pretty much every country house in the 1920s and 1930s, bullying the owners into entrusting their archives into her care, and rarely taking 'No' for an answer. In 1926 she was described as 'the Best Burglar in the County', a description which she relished and which is a fitting title for this volume. A hundred years after the Society's creation, it is time to put pen to paper and tell its story. By itself, the history of a Record Society might seem a somewhat dry subject for a book, but history can be amusing, particularly with someone as colourful, and with such a keen sense of humour, as Joan Wake at the heart of the story.'--