RBMS Security Committee: Theft Reports 2001

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 2001 to December 2001. For additional coverage or for information on how to report notices for possible inclusion on the list, please consult the cumulative index.

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2001

December 2001

A Kentucky state judge last week sentenced Ross Vince Brewer convicted of stealing more than 80 rare books from Centre College and other universities, to a prison term of 18 months and ordered him to pay about $2,300 in restitution to three schools. Brewer had reportedly hit more than 37 libraries before he was arrested in December 2000, after stealing a three-volume set of Thomas L. McKenney and James Hall's A History of the Indian Tribes of North America from Centre College (Danville, Kentucky) two months earlier. Brewer, also known as David Menz, was caught after news of the theft was broadcast to dealers via the internet. A rare-book dealer in Philadelphia subsequently alerted the police that the stolen books had been offered to him for sale. According to the Associated Press, Brewer also stole works from the Miami University of Ohio; three campuses of the University of Wisconsin; the Wisconsin Historical Society; and the University of Iowa.

Source:  Library Journal Academic Newswire: December 6, 2001; Check It Out: (newsletter of the Lucille Stewart Beeson Law Library, Stamford University), January 2001, http://lawlib.samford.edu/cio/ciojan01.html#stolen; The Cincinnati Enquirer, December 13, 2000: http://enquirer.com/editions/2000/12/13/loc_kentucky_news_briefs.html;

October 2001

A University of Wisconsin student has been arrested and charged with stealing an assortment of rare documents, including ones signed by George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Benjamin Franklin. UW-Madison junior Benjamin Johnson allegedly stole the rarities from the Yale library, and was arrested at UW-Madison's Adams Residence Hall by police after he apparently attempted to sell the manuscripts to a professional autograph dealer.  Officials said Johnson worked this past summer at Yale's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library and is believed to have taken as many as 50 historical documents. Johnson apparently mutilated a number of the manuscripts by cutting signatures from them.  Police caught a break in the case when Johnson sold an artifact to Catherine Barnes, president of the Professional Autograph Dealer Association and organizer of a recently formed network for reporting stolen manuscripts.  Barnes became suspicous and alerted police, who obtained a search warrant.  Stolen materials estimated to be worth more than $1.25 million were said to be found in Johnson's possession. These included valuable books by Charles Darwin, Herman Melville, Frank L. Baum and Ian Fleming.  According to the  report in the New Haven Register, Yale police also found a key to a room at Yale University's Kline Geology Lab in Johnson's bedroom, and a fossil that belonged to the Paleobotany Department. Johnson had completed an internship in the lab in 1996 and there worked as a volunteer in 1998.

Source: Library Journal Academic Newswire, 18 October 2001; New Haven Register, 30 November 2001;  Boston Globe, 8 December 2001

September 2001

The following books are reported to have been stolen from the shelves of bookseller H.P. Kraus at various times within the past 18 months. Anyone with information or questions should email Joshua Lipton, at hpkraus@worldnet.att.net.

• Almanach. Etrennes mignones, curieuses et utiles, Avec plusieurs augmentations & corrections, pour l'Année mil sept cent soixante-dix. Paris, Pierre-François Durand, 1770. 24mo (93 x 57 mm.). 2 folding maps. Contemp. green morocco, gold-stamped plaque on both covers with scallop shells and arabesques, urns, g.e.
• Brunetti, Orazio. Lettere. Venice, [Andreas Arrivabene], 1548. 8vo. Boards. Ms. exlibris on title of Hercano Calciaveglia.
• Capra, Alessandro. La Nuova Architettura Famigliare. Bologna, Giacomo Monti, 1678. Small 4to. 2 folding plates. Contemporary vellum (head of spine mended).
• Dionysius Periegetes.- Johannes Camers, ed. De Situ Orbis. Venna, Hieronymus Vietor & Johannes Singriener for Leonard & Lucas Alantsee, 22 October 1512. Small 4to.Ms. exlibris (Johann Pirndl?) on title. Calf.
• Chaumet, Henri. Bêtes & Cie. Paris, R. Coulouma for Kra, 1928. Tall 8vo. 25 etchings by Foujita. Boards with red morocco back. No. 57 of 350 copies.
• Gelli, Giovanni Battista. La circe. Florence, Lorenzo Torrentino, 22 May 1550. 8vo. Antique morocco in arabesque design, silk marker.
• Howell, James. Dendrologie, ou La Forest de Dodonne. Paris, Jean Camusat for the Author, 1641. 4to. Engraved frontispiece. Contemp. vellum. Bookplate of Frans & Joop Verdoorn.
• Kelmscott Press. * Herrick, Robert. * Ellis, F.S., ed. Poems Chosen out of the Works of Robert Herrick. Hammersmith, Kelmscott Press, 1895. 4to. Original limp vellum with ties. One of 250 copies.
• Laurence, John. The Clergy-Man's Recreation: Shewing the pleasure and profit of the art of gardening. London, for Bernard Lintot, 1726. 8vo. [Bound with his:] The Gentleman's Recreation: or the second part of the art of gardening improved. London, for Bernard Lintot, 1723. 4 folding plates. [Bound with his:] The Fruit-Garden Kalendar. London, for Bernard Lintot, 1718. Contemporary calf (rebacked, original spine label).
• Lucretius. De rerum natura. Venice, in aedibus Aldi, et Andreae soceri, January 1515. 8vo. Including 2 blank leaves. (Early ownership inscription erased from lower title margin, small armorial stamp on title and beginning of each book). Old boards. Engraved armorial bookplate of H.W. Carter.
• Lucretius. * Lambin, Denis, ed. De rerum natura libri sex. Paris, Rouille, 1565. 16mo. [Bound with:] Claudianus. Opera. Lyon, heirs of Sebastian Gryphius, 1561. [Bound with:] Juvenalis; Persius. Satyrae. Lyon, Michael Sylvius for Jean Frellon, 1556. Contemporary brown calf, fillets in blind, central gilt fleur de lys onsides, edges gauffered and gilt, dated 1566 with initials I R V. Gift to Joannes Rebe from Jacobus Rembolt of Eisleben, Wittenberg, 18 September 1566. Armorial bookplate of the Ott family.
• Pagani, Antonio. Le Rime spirituali. Venice, Bolognino Zaltieri, 1570. 4to. Vellum, goldstamped title label on spine. (Printer's device slightly shaved at fore-edge).
• Petronius Arbiter.- Pithou, Pierre, ed. Satyricon. Paris, Mamert Patisson, 1587. 12mo. (Ms. exlibris partially erased from blank portion of title). 19th *century marbled boards with vellum back and corners, back gilt in compartments with morocco spine label, g.e.
• Rotmar, Valentin; Engerd, Johann. Almae Ingolstadiensis Academiae tomus primus. Ingolstadt, David Sartorius, 1581. 4to. Contemp. calf with two gold roll-tooled frames and a central Lyonese medallion (rebacked, original backstrip laid down). Inscribed by Engerd to Ernest of Bavaria, kalends February 1582.
• Virgilius Maro, Publius.- John Bond, comm. Carmina Omnia. Paris, Firmin Didot, 1858. 12mo. With 27 mounted photographs of classical scenes. Crimson morocco, gilt dentelles.
• Statius, Publius Papinus. Sylvarum libri quinque. Venice, Aldus, August & November 1502. 8vo. (lacking last leaf of Orthographia with Aldine device). Red or blue initials supplied at beginning of both parts. Brown crushed morocco by Bradstreet, with double gilt fillets on sides, back in compartments with gold-stamped floral motifs and titling. Gold-stamped morocco bookplate of Henry W. Poor.

August 2001

• A first edition of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, annotated by the author, was finally returned to the Richard Robinson Armagh Public Library in Northern Ireland. The volume was recovered in a raid by Dublin police. Along with other rare material, it had been stolen at gunpoint from the Library by two men in December 1999. The thieves, identified as Phillip Joseph Monks of Armagh and Arthur McShane of County Dublin, were apprehended in January 2000 with five manuscripts in their possession. A miniature Koran, a Papal Bull by Clement XII and a thumb Bible were still reported missing as of Aug. 3, 2001.

Sources: American Libraries, Sept. 2001, p. 29; report by Monika Unsworth in The Irish Times, Aug. 3, 2001: http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2001/0803/north2.htm; RTÉ Interactive News, Aug. 2, 2001, Jan. 29 and 30, 2000: http://www.rte.ie/news/2001/0802/armagh.html; Museum Security Network, Dec. 15, 1999, via Exlibris.

July 2001

• Six rare maps, dating from 1482 up to 1662, were stolen in February 2001 from the University of Helsinki Library's Adolf Erik Nordenskiold collection. A well-dressed and polite man speaking English requested and was given access to atlases containing the maps. According to Dorrit Gustafsson, head of administration at the library, the man "must have been very skilful, and the police suspect that he may have had special pockets sewn into his clothes because all he had with him was a small notebook, a pen and a ruler." It has been reported that British citizen Melvin Nelson Perry returned to Finland on July 7 to face charges for the theft. Two of the maps were returned to the Finnish embassy in London, but four maps were still missing at the time of these reports. Perry was also suspected of being involved in similar thefts in Copenhagen, Stockholm and elsewhere in Europe.

  Sources: Helsingin Sanomat (International Edition), July 8, 2001, and earlier reports: http://www.helsinki-hs.net/news.asp?id=20010807IE6&pvm=20010807. A Reuters News Service report was posted to the Exlibris listserv by Leigh Montgomery, March 7, 2001.

Update (May 2002): Perry was sentenced in September 2001 to 18 months imprisonment in Finland for stealing rare maps from the University of Helsinki. However, Perry never served time, striking a bargain that resulted in the return of some of the stolen material. According to the published report, Perry was still wanted for questioning in connection with thefts of rare maps from the National Library of Wales and the Swedish Royal Library.

Source: "'Rip and run' raiders carve up the masterpieces of cartography for global trade in stolen maps", story by Cahal Milmo in The Independent, 18 May 2002 (also circulated by the Museum Security Network, "archive" for 19 May 2002).

• Reports in the London Times and the Independent (28 July 2001) indicate that "over several months, about 30 books were silently smuggled out of the ... Bodleian library."  The theft was of 17th-century theology titles valued at about 20,000 British pounds.  The books "had been available for study on request and were not in display cases.  ... [I]t is thought that ten large volumes were smuggled out of the library, concealed in clothing."  A list of the missing books has apparently been circulated to dealers. 

Source: Reports by Robin Young in The Times, July 25, 2001 (http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,2-2001253798,00.html) and by Chris Gray in The Independent, July 28, 2001 (http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=85753)

June 2001

• An arrest warrant was issued "for a Catawba, North Carolina, woman on charges of stealing books from area public libraries.  More than 900 books were confiscated May 30 from the home of April Angela Bumgarner, the operator of an online bookstore called Angela's Attic ... [which had been] registered since March with the Advanced Book Exchange at abebooks.com.  Police claim that Bumgarner checked books out in her own name, but used fake addresses to obtain library cards.  More than 100 had been checked out from libraries in Alexander and Burke counties."  

Source:  American Libraries, August 2001, p. 28, citing reports in the Charlotte Observer, June 1, 2001.

• A report in The Guardian by Jason Burke described how London has become the center of a sharp rise in the traffic of rare books and manuscripts, especially but not exclusively stemming from the "underfunded libraries of Russia, Poland and the Ukraine."

Source:  http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,6109,504578,00.html

May 2001

• Raymond Nelson, 19, was being sought for the theft of rare material from the Bangor (Maine) Public Library. More than $27,000 worth of material was taken, of which about half had been recovered, after being offered to local rare-book collectors and dealers. The most valuable single item stolen was a 100-year-old print entitle Army and Navy of the United States, valued at between $5,000 and $10,000. Among other items, a 1762 atlas was also stolen. Recovered material included a map of Aroostook County and a series of large volumes about the Civil War, called "Harper's Pictorial History of the Civil War."

Source, American Libraries, June/July 2001, pp. 37-38. See also Bangor Daily News, May 10 and 18, 2001

April 2001

• A number of thefts were reported at the New York Book Fair, including (1) a set of Rockwell Kent maquettes and drawings bought at auction at Christie's East on April 17, 2001 (lot 121); (2) a 24-page Black Hawk War captivity pamphlet, Narrative of the Capture and Providential Escape of Misses Frances and Almira Hall, 1833 (Howes H61, Buck 244); (3) a Native American language item: Roger Williams, A Key into the language of America. London: Gregory Dexter, 1643; and (4) Gene Stratton-Porter, After the Flood.  Chicago:  Indiana Society of Chicago, 1911.

Source:  The ABAA Newsletter, Vol. 12, no. 3 (Spring 2001), pages, 1, 14.

• Harvard College Library reported the theft of 46 eighteenth-century items from the Widener Library, following an inventory in which empty book covers were found in the stacks. The items were primarily pamphlets, journals and books from the French Revolution and Napoleonic eras, including Le Déclin du jour, a set of resolutions of the National Assembly from July 1789. The items, worth about $10,000, were all slated to be removed to the library's depository. Research libraries and booksellers specializing in French antiquities were alerted by the Library.

Source, American Libraries, June/July 2001, p. 38. Harvard University Gazette, May 3, 2001:

• The Pierpont Morgan Library decided to return two rare sixteenth-century items to the Nuremberg Stadtbibliothek after the discovery that they had been stolen sometime between 1944 and 1952. One item was a a 1599 German manuscript containing liturgical music compiled by Johann Schirmer; the other was a book containing two works written by Joannes Cochlaeus. The book's binding was decorated with a coat of arms designed by Albrecht Dürer. The Morgan Library had bought both items in good faith in 1997 from different dealers. News stories reported that the German cultural ministry was increasing efforts to locate art and literature lost or stolen during the war. Items still missing from Germany are listed in The Lost Art Internet Database

Source, American Libraries, June/July 2001, p. 38; Museum Security Network, April 20, 2001: (based on article by Carol Vogel from the New York Times)

• John G. Minea, 37, of Maplewood, MN, was arrested for felony theft after 832 library books, valued at more than $13,000, were discovered in his trailer house following a police search. The thief had used fraudulently acquired library cards to get the books from more libraries in Minneapolis, St. Paul and numerous county libraries. Minea was sentenced in June 2001 to 60 days in prison and fined $6,000; in addition he was ordered to stay away from eight libraries and placed on 10-year's probation.

Source, American Libraries, April 2001, pp. 33-34; WCCO.COM, June 1, 2001

 

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