Michael Visontay: An Evening with the Author

Join Michael Visontay, in conversation with Michaela Kalowski, to talk about his latest book Noble Fragments, in-store at Gertrude & Alice Cafe Bookstore.

WHEN: Wednesday, 24th of September 2025, at Gertrude & Alice Cafe Bookstore. Please arrive at 6:45pm for a prompt 7pm start.

TICKETS: 

Admission: $25.00 (excluding external fees), includes admission for one, a glass of wine and nibbles upon arrival.

Admission + Book: $55.00 (excluding external fees), includes admission for one, a copy of Noble Fragments (RRP: $36.95), a glass of wine and nibbles upon arrival.

One hundred years ago, Gabriel Wells, a New York bookseller, committed a crime against history. He broke up the world’s greatest book, the Gutenberg Bible, and sold it off in individual pages. This is the story of an Australian man’s hunt for those fragments and his family’s debt to an act of literary vandalism.

About Noble Fragments:

In 1921, Wells’ audacity scandalised the rare-book world. The Gutenberg was the first substantial book in Europe to have been printed on a printing press. It represented the democratisation of knowledge and was the Holy Grail of rare books.

Was the break-up a sacrilege or a canny deal? New Yorkers were divided. For every frown of disapproval, there was a lick of the lips. It was the Roaring Twenties, the Gatsby era of fabulous wealth. Tycoons were in a feeding frenzy to acquire items that would demonstrate their refinement. Wells marketed the pages as ‘Noble Fragments’, they sold like hot cakes, and he died a rich man.

Half a century later, Sydney journalist Michael Visontay stumbled upon a mysterious legal document that linked Wells to his own family. He became obsessed by the Gutenberg’s invisible imprint on his life, and set out to track down the pages of the broken bible.

Part detective story and part memoir, Noble Fragments is an expedition into the arcane world of book collectors and their eccentric passions, and a journey of discovery about how Wells’s gamble set off a chain of events that changed a family’s destiny.

'[Visontay’s search] would take him down a winding, unexpected path — one that circled the globe and the centuries, was peopled with a staggeringly varied cast of characters, and involved one of the most notorious acts of literary vandalism ever perpetrated.’ - Sadie Stein, The New York Times

About the Author: Michael Visontay

Michael Visontay has worked as a journalist and senior editor at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian, and taught journalism at university. He is the author of several nonfiction books, including Welcome to Wanderland, Who Gave You Permission? (with Manny Waks), and Undies to Equities: the remarkable life of Henri Aram.

About the Host: Michaela Kalowski:

Michaela Kalowski is an interviewer, moderator and curator for writers and ideas festivals. Highlight interviews include Margaret Atwood, David Mitchell, Tim Winton and Stan Grant. She's curator of Big Weekend of Books, ABC Radio National's on-air writers' festival. She produces and hosts a monthly books conversation event for Petersham Bowling Club. Michaela has conducted radio interviews and presented programs across ABC radio and TV. She's co-presenter and co-writer of a two-part podcast for ABC Radio National, tracing part of her family's history, called Laya's Way Home.

About Gertrude & Alice Cafe Bookstore

Rated as one of the top 10 bookstores in the world by National Geographic, Gertrude & Alice Cafe Bookstore is an oasis for writers, readers, and coffee lovers. Books overflow from the shelves of their store, featuring a mix of new, second-hand, antiquarian and rare books. Stay a while & enjoy some homemade chai, and amazing coffee, and unearth a book treasure or two. Read more about the bookstore's story here, and about the real Gertrude & Alice here.