San Diego Man to Sell Collection : Bookworm Buried Under Tomes in Quake Recovers

An 86-year-old man who was critically injured when his huge book collection buried him during a July 13 earthquake said Thursday that his library is for sale.

At a press conference at the University of California Medical Center at San Diego, Anthony Cima spoke publicly about his collection for the first time since the accident. His 10,000 books filled his 9-foot-by-12-foot room at a residential hotel on Martin Luther King Way in San Diego.

“As of now, I’ll sell them as they come,” Cima said. “. . . I intended to sell them all along, but I didn’t make any special effort to do so.”

Thought About Quakes

According to city officials, a housing inspector last year warned Cima to remove the books from his $200-a-month walk-up. And Cima himself said Thursday that he thought an earthquake could cause an avalanche.

On July 13, a 5.3 temblor left Cima conscious, but bruised and buried five feet deep in tomes ranging from out-of-print encyclopedias to James Michener to Nancy Drew mysteries.

“After two or three minutes I gave up (calling for help),” Cima said, “but I said what can I lose? I may as well keep yelling until I run completely out of strength.”

He was found by fellow tenants and carried from the room by firemen after they broke down the door and pitched about 800 books out a window into the street.

Cima suffered a heart attack shortly afterward in a hospital and twice was put on a breathing machine. But he spoke clearly Thursday and said he wanted to sell his collection and return to his apartment. Dr. Mark Soll said the recovery was extraordinary and that Cima could leave the hospital within a few weeks.

Come Out ‘Pretty Well’

“At several points we didn’t think he’d do as well as he did,” Soll said. “I’d say he’s come out of this pretty well.”

Asked how he felt Thursday, Cima said, “safe.”

According to his landlords, Cima was a polite, learned man who insisted on buying and reading four newspapers a day. He later gave them to a nearby restaurant to start barbecue fires because he did not have any room left to store them.