RBMS Security Committee: Theft Reports 1997-1998

This is a list of incidents reported in the public media and on open listservs, such as Exlibris. The "Incidents of Theft" list was begun in 1987 and is updated by a member of the RBMS Security Committee. Although known to be incomplete, the list does provide an indication of the extent and variety of reported and alleged thefts. For reports in the Exlibris electronic discussion list since April 1991, consult the list archives.

The following list contains notices of thefts that occurred or were reported from January 1999 to December 2000. For additional coverage or for information on how to report notices for possible inclusion on the list, please consult the cumulative index.

1998

November 1998

Seven books used in a special exhibit of English literature were stolen from the Bishop Cousin Library at Durham University. Among them was a rare 17th century edition of Shakespeare's first folio, published in 1623. It had been removed from the library's strongroom for the exhibit. Visitors were not searched, and the glass display case was not checked regularly. Contact Det. Insp. Any Summerbell of the Durham (UK) Police.

Source: Exlibris, 12/18/98, via Museum Security Network

October 1998

The Schocken Library in Jerusalem reported 31 volumes had been stolen, most of them published in the 16th century. A list is on Exlibris; contact Naomi Steinberger 212-678-8982.

Source: Exlibris, 10/01/98

An autograph dealer in Concord, NH, William Lineman, entered a guilty plea to charges of ripping the front and back pages out of 300 Concord Library books. The pages were blank and authentically aged. He claimed he took the pages only for kicks. Was fined $1200.00. Said he would scale back his autograph business and look for another line of work.

Source: Exlibris, 10/14/98

Wills and other related material of three early baseball Hall of Famers and the will of a fourth baseball figure were reported stolen from a courthouse vault in Boston. The Register of Probate said they had tightened security now that they have learned that people can't come in to freely look at their files, which are public records. The loss came to light when the missing material was advertised on the Internet and in an auction company catalog. These documents some of the few places where the autographs of the early baseball stars are known to appear.

Source: Exlibris, 11/1/98, via Wilmington (DE) News Journal

September 1998

It was announced that in April 1998 most of the small collection of early books owned by the British Institute of Florence had been stolen. A list of the 11 titles is on Exlibris. Contact Christine Wilding in Firenze, Italy, phone: 0039 55 284032.

Source: Exlibris, 9/10/98

An irreplaceable nearly 200-year-old diary of Deborah Norris Logan was left in a taxi in Philadelphia. The owner had brought it from England to donate it to the Library Company. Two weeks later it was discovered in an apartment building hallway in West Philadelphia by the building's maintenance man; he delivered it to the Library Company.

Source: Exlibris, 9/16/98 and 9/18/98, from the Philadelphia Inquirer

August 1998

"On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres," by Nicolaus Copernicus, published in 1543, was reported stolen from a library in Ukraine. In a subsequent message, Owen Gingerich indicated he had detailed descriptions of all copies of this title; some had sold for more than $200,000. Recently, two copies of the second edition that had come on the market had turned out to be stolen from the Czech Republic and Russia.

Source: Exlibris, 8/15/98, from Museum Security Network

The Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas, Austin, reported 7 titles associated with the designer/artist/publisher F.-L. Schmied had been discovered to be missing. In some cases, all or part of the catalog card set also was missing. Contact Richard Oram, 512-471-9119; a list is on Exlibris.

Source: Exlibris, 8/31/98

July 1998

A British Rabbi was terminated by the United Synagogue in London because he stole several rare volumes from the library of the Jewish organization Beth Din and sold them in Israel. The thefts were discovered when a potential purchaser of a volume inquired about it at the library. Some of the volumes have been recovered.

Source: Library Journal, 7/98, p. 24; from Daily Telegraph (London), June 6, 1998

In one of two cases recently prosecuted using 18 USC 668, which was drafted to protect cultural property, Earnest Medford, an ex-employee of the Historical Society of Philadelphia, and codefendant, George Cszimazia, were sentenced to 4 years in a federal prison, $5,000 fine, and 3 years probation. The lure of unique, one of a kind Civil War artifacts was too much for them.

Source: Exlibris, 7/16/98

In Turin, Italy, thieves stole 100,000 school and university textbooks, including Greek and Latin primers, in a military-style raid. Kept ten staff at gunpoint for two hours. Claimed to be "The Robin Hoods of culture" who would give books to less fortunate Italians.

Source: Exlibris, 7/19/98

April 1998

Old U.S. weather data and archival records were reported stolen from the USGS library in Anchorage. News of the theft went out on the internet and appeared in a major article in the Anchorage Newspaper. For some reason, the missing maps and data reappeared and are now home again.

Source: Archives Listserv, 4/10/98; 4/13/98

More than 4000 books slated for a Friends of the Library book sale were stolen from the garage at the home of the director of the Northland Library, near Pittsburgh. The loss was discovered a week before the annual sale; none of the books were known to be particularly valuable.

Source: Museum Security Network, via Exlibris, 5/1/98

Toledo-Lucas County PUblic Library reported that their H.S. Tanner Atlas of the United States (Philadelphia, 1835), containing separate maps for each state and territory, was stolen on April 7, 1998. The thief may tray to sell the maps separately. Contact Irene Martin: martin@tlc.lib.oh.us.

Source: Archives Listserv, 4/9/98

A grand jury heard the case of a West Virginia man charged with a fourth-degree felony count of vandalism for removing photographs of children from hundreds of volumes in 22 libraries in Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky. He was arrested when a student employee noticed him applying his razor in the Ohio University Library. Indictments were to be made public in late May.

Source: Library Journal, 6/15/98, p.18

March 1998

St. Petersburg (Russia) police reported the arrest of a man suspected of stealing the Russian National Library's 4-volume set of Audubon's Birds of America. He sold them through Christie's auction in Berlin for $2.9 million. In an unrelated matter, the St. Petersburg police department that deals with stolen culture valuables also detained two train cars with 50 seventeenth- and eighteenth-century icons.

Source: St. Petersburg Times, via the Museum Security Network and Exlibris, 3/1/98.

Sean Brown, a contract researcher for the Lincoln Legal Papers Project from 1993-1996, was arrested and charged in three Illinois counties with theft and with tampering with public records. The goal of the Project was to locate, identify, and photograph previously unknown surviving Lincoln legal records. Brown, however, apparently stole some 200 of the documents they located, primarily written by lesser-known associates of Lincoln; 140 were recovered after turning up at an auction house, and the identification of several of them was confirmed through the Project's photocopies.

Source: State Journal Register (Springfield, IL), via Archives Listserv, 3/3/98

Two groups of autographs, one in Virginia and the other in Ohio, were stolen in early March 1998, possibly on the same day. The Virginia group was a large, valuable collection of presidential and first lady autograph material; a list was posted at: http://www.abaa-booknet.com/usa/theft/. In Ohio, a group of items autographed by notable figures while it was waiting to go up for bid.

Source: Exlibris, 3/3/98

More than 400 music manuscripts were discovered stolen from the archives in Las Palmas Cathedral in the Canary Islands, including most of the works by resident 17th-century composers. The police and local authorities were notified, and news of the theft was placed on the internet. A week later the manuscripts were recovered, probably due to the combination of pressure from the police, the media, and the international musicological cyber-community.

Source: Exlibris, 3/13/98, 3/20/98

The judge of the U.S. District Court in Manhattan struggled to solve a modern riddle: What is the proper value of something that is priceless? The judge sentenced Daniel Spiegelman on April 24 to five years in prison, plus three years probation, including 300 days of community service in an adult literacy education program, and restitution to Columbia University of an amount to be determined, that will include costs of conservation and restoration by the defense and U.S. Attorney. (See also entries for June 1995 and October 1994.) Jean Ashton, director of the rare book and manuscript collection at Columbia University, spent more than three hours on the witness stand. In April, Ashton reported that a number of books, maps, autographs, and manuscripts were missing from the cache of materials recovered from Spiegelman by the FBI. A list of items still missing is available on the Columbia University Libraries website, at: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/libraries/indiv/rare/missing.

Source: New York Times, 3/22/98 via Archives Listserv; Exlibris, 4/1/98, 4/20/98.

Kevin P. Gildea was charged with the theft of four volumes from the Adams Historic Site. (See also November 1996.) The four-count indictment included two for theft and subsequent concealment of "objects of cultural heritage" and two for theft and subsequent concealment of government property.

Source: Museum Security Network, via Exlibris, 3/25/98

Stephen Blumberg, who was arrested on a burglary chare in December 1997, was released on $3,250 bond. IN April he was sentenced to five years; he now is again out on bail pending his appeal.

Source: Exlibris, 3/30/98; Exlibris, via E.C. Wilkie, 6/9/98.

February 1998

A former New Hampshire assistant attorney general, William McCallum was sentenced to three to six years in a correctional facility after being found guilty of stealing computers, law books, antique prints, paintings and furniture between 1990 and 1996. Among the works recovered were numerous volumes of New Hampshire Reports and a two-volume 15^th-century Commentary on the Whole Corpus of the Bible.

Source: American Libraries, March 1998, p. 18

Helard J. Gonzales Ohiggins, a former porter at New York Public Library's Performing Arts Research Center, was charged with breaking a federal law against stealing something more than 100 years old from an educational institution. In November and December 1997, he allegedly stole a rare sheet of music written by Mozart and six letters written by Richard Wagner. The theft was discovered when he allegedly tried to sell them for $1,000, presenting his driver's license as identification to the bookstore that bought the items.

Source: American Libraries, March 1998, p. 22; New York Times, Feb. 6, 1998.

The Police Departments of Ohio State University and Emory University were working together to investigate incidents of vandalism relating to the removal of pictures of young children in some state of nudity from library books.

Source: Museum Security Network, via Exlibris, Feb. 20, 1998.

January 1998

A New Mexico man, Jordan Rodgers, surrendered to authorities on charges in connections with a 1990 theft from Princeton University's art library of more than a dozen rare lithographs that were cut from books. He was indicted by a grand jury in 1992 on charges of theft and criminal mischief.

Source: American Libraries, March 1998, p. 22.

James Gilreath, former Library of Congress historian (see January 1997), was arraigned on counts of Interstate Transportation of Stolen Property, Receiving Stolen Property, and First Degree Theft. The thefts allegedly occurred between 1992 and 1997. The FBI was seeking information regarding efforts by Gilreath to sell rare books.

Source: Christian Science Monitor, 12/5/97; SA Kenneth Welch, FBI/Washington Field Office, via Exlibris, 2/9/98, 2/4/98

Drake University, in Des Moines, Iowa, reported the theft of the three-volume History of the Indian Tribes of North America, by Thomas Moraine McKenney. The items were stolen from a secure locked area some time in the past several months; they had no identifying marks. Contact: Rod Henshaw, Director (rod.henshaw@drake.edu).

Source: Exlibris, 1/26/98

1997

December 1997

A Wayne PA collector of books for a new historical library put her 'finds' in her car, stopped and left the car to run an errand, and returned to find the car and 'finds' gone.

Source: Philadelphia Newspaper, Inc. via Exlibris 12/23/97

Stephen Blumberg was arrested December 11 in Des Moines on a charge of 3^rd degree burglary. He was apprehended stealing "brass knobs, brass ceiling lights and wood trim" from a vacant apartment building and was using the alias Mike Charles Nelson.

Source: Eileen Brady, Focus on Security, via Exlibris, 12/14/97

November 1997

A 12^th-century medical compendium on parchment apparently missing from the National Library of Medicine turned up in a West Coast antiquarian book dealer's stock. It started its journey via the 1988 estate sale of the NLM's chief cataloger who was dismissed in 1943. Mediation negotiations are underway.

Source: American Libraries, Nov. 1997, p. 22

Item: Bodin's Demonomania de gli stregoni (1592) was taken from the Reading Room of the New York Public Library on November 29. Item: Cornell University's Engineering Library reported apparently systematic thefts or vandalism of geology books, many published in the 19^th or early 20^th centuries. Staff have found stashes of tattle tapes, barcodes, and book covers with text blocks removed. A list is available from Cornell University Police.

Source: ABAA Pink Sheet, November 1997

Stolen from Barbara Farnsworth's West Cornwall CT bookstore: James Joyce, Ulysses, Paris, 19922m #543 if 1000 copies. It was taken from a desk drawer, leaving behind a custom-made clamshell box. Contact: CT State Police.

Source: Interloc

October 1997

On October 8, the North Carolina Library Association presented an Honorary Membership to NC Superior Court Judge Robert H. Hobgood. The judge had rejected a plea bargain for Gilbert Bland, saying, he penalty is not severe enough for what the man has done." Ultimately, Bland was sentenced to an additional 4 ½ months in jail in North Carolina.

Source: Exlibris 11/15/97, reported by Robert Anthony

Two books by F. Scott Fitzgerald were reported missing from Special Collections at Virginia Commonwealth University library: The Great Gatsby (1925); The Beautiful and the Damned (1922). Both were inscribed volumes from the library of James Branch Cabell. Contact: Special Collections, VCU, 804-383-1108,or rbonis@hsc.vcu.edu.

Source: Exlibris, 11/18/97

Ptolemy's Cosmographia (Bologna, 1477), one of the earliest printed atlases, was discovered to have been stolen from France's Bibliothèque Nationale. It was last used in August 1997 and had been returned to the shelves. The atlas, valued at between 300 and 500 thousand English pounds, was recovered in London in May 1998 after being listed for sale at a Christie's auction.

Source: Museum Security Network, via Exlibris 11/6/97; 6/1/98

University libraries in Ohio discovered that their collections were suffering from a slasher who cuts photographs of boys from books. To date, sic libraries in the state had reported the problem. The vandalism started about two years ago and the investigation was made public in the finding new leads. Contact: Gary Hunt, Ohio University Library

Source: Chronicle of Higher Education, 10/13/97

A first edition of Clancy's The Hunt for Red October was stolen from Booked Solid in Bradford, VT. Contact Donna Repsher, 802-222-5826. Another dealer in Bradford reported the theft of 39 volumes of The Works of James Fenimore Cooper (1861) and a signed 1964 Beatles poster.

Source: Interloc

Item: The University of South Carolina discovered ten volumes published in the 18^th and 19^th centuries were missing from its South Caroliniana Collection when staff conducted an inventory. The Last known activity with these items was in Summer 1993. Contacts: Investigators Gallvan or Heddy, 803-777-8400. Item: Another dealer in non-existent rare books and ephemera (similar to David Holt) is reported to have shown up in the Netherlands, using the name Mulders. Item: When an English Professor at UC-Berkeley returned from a two-month trip to Europe, he discovered his office had been entered and more than 150 books were stolen, including numerous books by or about Ezra Pound. The owner's name, Peter Dale Scott, is in the books. Contact Christine Bowers, 510-642-3185. List available.

Source: ABAA Pink Sheet, November 1977

September 1997

Item: Uppsala University Library reported that an uncolored copy, considered complete, of Bessler's Hortus Eystettensis (1613) was stolen from its Reading Room. Contact Uppsala Police, Tel: +46 18 16 85 00, 15 44 44. Item: 36 prints from a folio by David Roberts (1842-1849) were reported stolen from Robert Frew Ltd, London. Tel: 0171 580 2413. List available.

Source: ABAA Pink Sheet, November 1977

August 1997

Steve Fotinos, a bookbinder for 17 years at the San Francisco Law Library, was sentenced August 27 to three years probation and six months in the county jail (six six-month periods served concurrently), much of which had already been served. Fotinos had pleaded not guilty to stealing rare 15^th-17^th century legal books from the library after being arrested in July 1996 in a sting operation, but was convicted by a jury on May 13, 1997 on six felony counts and ordered to pay a $5,000 fine, $8,500 restitution to a book seller, $50 lab fee, and $200 to the Victim's Restitution Fund. More than 140 rare books belonging to the library were recovered. The first tip came from a book dealer who spotted a marking from the Law Library in a book coming through his hands. Details available from: Rapbell@aol.com.

Source: Marcia Bell, Director, San Francisco Law Library, 9/23/97. See also Guild of Book Workers Newsletter, no. 113 (August 1997)

Item: Thieves entered a locked room at the University of Minnesota's Walter Library on a weekend and removed 200 Little Big Books, including several dealing with comic strip characters. Contact Karen Hoyle, 612-624-4576. Item: A first edition of James Joyce's Chamber Music (1907) was removed from a box of books while being shipped via UPS. Contact: Stephen L. Pepple, Buddenbrooks, Boston, 617-536-4433.

Source: ABAA Pink Sheet, November 1977

July 1997

Jose Torres, indicted 31 counts of larceny, etc., in connection with thefts from Harvard College Library, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three to four years imprisonment, followed by deportation and ten years probation. He was also ordered to pay restitution of $601,987 to Harvard and $21,680 to a book dealer.

Source: Susan Lee (salee@husc.harvard.edu), 7/9/97. See also Exlibris, 7/1/97

June 1997

An article by Miles Harvey on Gilbert Bland appeared the June 1997 issue of Outside Magazine, available at: http://www.outsidemag.com/magazine/0697/9706bland.html

May 1997

Three editions of Shelley were taken from the library of the Keats-Shelley Memorial House in Rome, Italy around May 1: Poetical Works (1855), vol. 2, edited by Mrs. Shelley; Poems (selections), with a memoir by Mathilde Blind (1872); and Poetical Works (London: Miller and Sowerby, n.d.). Contact: Christina Huemer, huemer@librs6k.vatlib.it.

Source: Exlibris, 5/21/97

The Museum Security Network reported that 11 investors ignored advice to check supposedly historic documents very carefully before buying. They paid up to $69K each to a Columbus dealer, who was held in NY on charges of aggravated theft.

Source: Exlibris, 5/12/97

April 1997

A break-in at a southern California book dealer's facility led to the theft of 300 hardcover books on baseball, football, hockey and basketball. Contact Stacey Roman, 310-393-0404

Source: Interloc

The rest of the books stolen in the Adams theft, fall 1996, were found in a Gold Gym's locker.

Source: Boston Globe, 4/25/97

Stolen in Toronto on April 19: a non-adhesive limp vellum wrapper on a blank book; laced paper case biding of Dewint (Barcham Green) on Vincent Pollina's Si cum Marcabrus declina.

Source: Exlibris, 4/30/97

Stephen Blumberg was sentenced to 8 months in prison on March 18, 1997, for violating the terms of his supervised release. Blumberg was in the company of another felon and had possession of library books. When he is released in November 1997, "he will have no further obligation with the Federal Court System".

Source: Eileen Brady via Exlibris, 4/15/97

Jose Torres-Carbonnel pleaded not guilty in February to 31 felony counts related to more than $1M worth of book thefts at Harvard University. If proven guilty, he will own the record for stealing more treasure from Harvard libraries than any other known thief.

Source: Christopher Reed via Exlibris, 4/17/97

In Delaware, Gilbert Bland received a two-year suspended sentence. Bland will be free in a month, after serving less than 1 ½ years in jail. Bland was to return material and provide restitution for loss and repair.

Source: Miles Harvey, via Exlibris, 4/4/97; Time Murray via Exlibris, 4/14/97

Libraries of four Indiana universities and seminaries discovered that several volumes dealing with the Jehovah's Witnesses and written by non-members were damaged or stolen, possibly by the same person.

Source: Library Journal, 6/1/97, p. 14

Daniel Spiegelman pled guilty to stealing more than $1M worth of materials from Columbia University's Rare Book and Manuscript Library. If convicted, he faces a prison sentence of up to ten years.

Source: Library Journal, 6/1/97, p. 24

March 1997

A. Asher and Co. and Forum Antiquarian Booksellers in the Netherlands reported more than 141 books (1480-1857) and 16 illuminated manuscripts, printed books of hours and miniatures (1300-1550) were missing in transit back home from the San Francisco Book Fair. For details contact abaa@panix.com.

Source: ABAA Pink Sheet, March 1997

Harvard Magazine presented a lengthy article by Christopher Reed about book theft from university libraries. See it at http://www.harvard-magazine.com

Source: Exlibris, 3/6/97

On advice from the FBI, Columbia University announced that a 16^th-century document, Plimpton MS 175: Henry VII (?) Grant to Christopher Brown re: an estate at Casterton Parva, 1504, was missing. Contact Jean Ashton, 212-854-2231/2232

Source: Exlibris, 3/21/97

February 1997

The subject cited in the Adams burglary was identified as Kevin Gildea, who earlier had been convicted of stealing antiques.

Source: Boston Globe, 2/4/97, 1/1/97

January 1997

Spanish national charged with stealing rare books valued at more than $750K from Harvard. Jose Torres was ready to leave the country when 1500 books, prints and maps were found in his Cambridge apartment.

Source: Boston Globe, Jan. 31, 1997

Spanish national charged with stealing rare books valued at more than $750K from Harvard. Jose Torres was ready to leave the country when 1500 books, prints and maps were found in his Cambridge apartment.

Source: Boston Globe, Jan. 31, 1997

Univ. of Arkansas prof, Dwain Edgar Manski, pleaded no contest to theft of historic documents from the Marfa (TX) Public Library and Presidio County Courthouse and to tampering with government records. Fined $4,813. Had more than 100 documents in his car, most torn out of books and stuffed in his pockets and socks.

Source: Big Bend Sentinel, Jan. 16, 1997

The inspector general of the Library of Congress and the FBI are investigating the loss of an estimated $1.8 million worth of important works. Alliance between federal officers and antiquarian book dealers paid off when someone tried to sell a collection from LC.

Source: Christian Science Monitor, Jan. 14, 1997

James Gilreath, on suspension from the Library of Congress, was stopped when he offered some LC books to a Boston bookseller. He suffers from health and mental problems and was placed in custody of his sister.

Source: Exlibris, Jan. 6, 1997, from Helen Kelly

Go to Cumulative Index of Theft Reports