John Holmes Jenkins III (1940 – April 16, 1989) was an American historian,[1] antiquarian bookseller, publisher, and poker player.
[2] In 1971, Jenkins was instrumental in helping the FBI recover an extremely valuable portfolio of original colored engravings, John James Audubon's Birds of America, stolen from Union College in Schenectady, New York.
Jenkins's accounts of this experience, the purchase of the Eberstadt collection, and other lively reminiscences appear in his book Audubon and Other Capers, published in 1976.
That same year, he received an honorary doctor of letters degree from Union College for his role in recovering the Audubon portfolio, as well as for his contributions to historical scholarship and the book trade.
In this capacity, he worked as principal organizer of a national system for identifying and publicizing the theft or loss of rare books and other valuable materials from libraries, booksellers, and private collections, and for seeing that the thieves are arrested and prosecuted.