RBMS Security Committee: Theft Reports 2003
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 2003 to December 2003. For additional coverage or for information on how to report notices for possible inclusion on the list, please consult the cumulative index.
2003
December 2003
After an architectural drawing (c.1776-78) of the Teatro alla Scala by Giuseppe Piermarini, the house's original architect, was reported missing from the Milan State Archives, an Italian task force uncovered evidence of the loss of thousands of other documents, approximately 3000 of which were recovered.
Since the investigation and gathering of evidence are ongoing, public prosecutor is withholding the names of the three main suspects, who are described as a professore (a civil servant employed by the provincial government of Milan in the field of cultural heritage and an esteemed scholar), the principal of a technical high school at San Donato Milanese (a neighboring township) and an antiquarian running a shop in downtown Milan. The trio have been charged not with actual theft, but rather with receiving stolen goods, which may hint at the involvement of a larger criminal organization.
The professore reportedly tried to sell some of the pieces to various public agencies, including the Soprintendenza ai beni culturali, the national government agency that oversees Italy's cultural heritage. He maintains that the astounding collection seized from his home is merely the fruit of patient research among peddlers of curiosities and antique publications, amassed at a few euros per item. In fact, the overall market value of the professore's magic cupboard is estimated by the carabinieri at 2 million euros.
Source: Article in Andante, 23 December 2003. Posted on CPP/MSN list, Vol. 2, issue 141 (24 December 2003).
In a breakthrough on solving a 25-year-old crime, investigators have uncovered 1,600 antique books, maps and documents stolen from Denmark's Royal Library. Four suspects also were detained, police said Wednesday. The thefts of the works, worth millions of dollars, started in the late '60s and stopped in 1977-1978, said Erland Kolding Nielsen, director general of the state-owned library. ''It is without any doubt one of the largest thefts of cultural artifacts in Denmark, ever,'' he said. Over the years, some 3,200 rare books and documents - including first editions by Immanuel Kant, Thomas More, John Milton and several hundreds prints by Martin Luther - had disappeared from the downtown library. Until recently, the Royal Library and the Danish police were without a clue in the theft of the works, dating from the 16th century to the 18th century.
A breakthrough came ''in Britain some months ago when a number of valuable works ... were sent to an auctioneer,'' the head librarian said. He said the items were worth between $323,000 and $488,000, but gave no other details. The Royal Library was alerted, identified the books and contacted Danish police. . The investigation with the Royal Library started three months ago and is ongoing, said Svindt, who refused to comment on media reports that three of those in custody included the widow of a former Royal Library worker, her son and daughter-in-law. The 68-year-old widow reportedly was arrested when she tried to sell some of the documents through an auctioneer, the newspaper Politiken reported. Her husband, who died last year, worked for decades as a philologist with the Library's Oriental Collection.Source: Associated Press story, 10 December 2003, posted CPP/MSN list, Vol. 2, issue 133 (11 December 2003) and on ExLibris.
November 2003
In November 2003, the notorious book thief Stephan Carrie Blumberg pleaded guilty to third-degree burglary, a Class D felony that carries a sentence of up to five years in prison and a fine ranging from $750 to $7,500. Under the plea agreement, the state recommended a $7,500 fine and five years probation. (In 1990, federal agents searched a house Blumberg owned in Ottumwa and found 28,000 books and documents stolen from 154 college libraries.) Blumberg had been arrested in July 2003 in Keokuk, Iowa, while in the process of stealing doorknobs from a vacant house.
Source: Associated Press stories carried in the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, 12 July 2003 and the Sioux City Journal, 27 November 2003, and transmitted via the Exlibris and CPP/MSN electronic discussion lists.
A former University of Texas library volunteer has signed federal court papers admitting that she stole an almost 500-year-old book from UT's Ransom Center collection more than a decade ago. Mimi Meyer, 57, who lives in Chicago, took "Il Petrarcha" [Venice: 1514] worth more than $5,000, while volunteering in the rare book section from 1989 to 1992, according to court papers. Documents charging her with one count of theft of a rare book were filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Austin along with a plea agreement. In return for her guilty plea and her continued cooperation in the case, prosecutors will recommend she serve only probation. That decision, ultimately, is up to a judge. ... The charge is punishable by up to 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.
Officials at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, ... noticed "Il Petrarcha" was missing in 1993. They put word out to collectors and other aficionados of rare books. In 2001, they were contacted by a collector when the [book] showed up in a New York auction catalog. The controller of Swann Galleries in New York, which was running the auction, told FBI agents that the book was one of several sent to them by Meyer to be put up for sale, according to court documents. Ransom Center officials said in 2001 that 11 other rare volumes also were missing. The court documents said Meyer turned over an undisclosed number of books to the FBI. Ransom Center Director Thomas Staley said he is hoping other books are returned to the center when the case is closed.... The security at the Ransom Center has been increased significantly since the rare books were taken, Staley said.
Source: Story by Steven Kreytak in the Austin American Statesman, 7 November 2003.
October 2003
More than 500 maps and atlases, mostly 18th century but some earlier, were reported stolen from the Itamarathy Palace Museum, the former headquarters of Foreign Affair Ministry of Brazil. A partial list of stolen material (see below) was listed on the Museum Security Network by Jose Parrot. Any information about the pieces listed below should be sent to icombr@terra.com.br.
MAPS
a) 1 prancha nº 3 ( Rio da Prata) do atlas "Estado do Brasil,/Coligido Das. Mais /Sertas Notícias/ ... por Ioão Teixeira Albernas...1631";
b) nº 640 do PMMBC "Planta do Rio Tieté, ou Añemby, na Capitania de S.Paulo desde a cidade do mesmo nome ... 1788/1789". 250cm x 33cm.; manuscrito aquarelado. Reproduzido na página 263 do livro "Mapa";
c) 11 folhas do Atlas de Van Keulen: 2 alegorias + 9 mapas. Século XVII. Gravuras aquareladas. Obras de grande beleza. Livro "Mapa - Imagens da formação territorial brasileira". Páginas: 25; 41; 47; 48; 81;124; 125;129; 183; 203; 204; 232; 278; e 279. Reproduzem alguns mapas, uma das alegorias, a que representa a América, e aspectos decorativos das peças. Gravuras coloridas. 41 x 25cm (a menor) e 81 x 102 (a maior).
d) 3 mapas da [Collecção hidrographica de 15 mappas, desde o Rio de Janeiro a-thé o Rio da Prata, e Buenos Ayres. ... Redigida nos annos de 1819 a 1821 por ocasião do serviço qfês no Brasil o Major Engenheiro F. P.A. Moreira ], folhas 1;5; e 6: 1) Barra do Rio de Janeiro; 5).Villa de Santos e Barras Juntas; e 6) Mappa do Porto de Santos;
e) 1 folha + 4 pranchas da "Fazenda Ipanema", conjunto de 13 pranchas com desenhos; perfis; mapas e 1 carta topográfica.
f) "Praefecturae Pernambucae pars borealis una cum Praefectura de Itamaraca [et} Praefecturae de Paraiba et Rio Grande.1643"(ed.1647B). Escalas gráficas em milhas diversas. 42 x 104cm Mapas gravados, coloridos, com toques a ouro, montados formando uma única peça.
g) Nobilissimis amplissimis & Consultissimis DOMINIS DIRECTORIBUS CELEBERRIME SOCIETATIS INDIAE OCCIDENTALIS. Novam hanc, & accuratam totius Brasiliae, omniumque locorum ductu & auspicio ipsorum faeficissimo occupatorum descriptionem, humilimae venerationis tesserum lubens merito dedicat, consercartque, Humilimus Cliens Wilhelmvs Hondivs. 1635H. Escala gráfica em milhas germânicas. 49 x 142cm. p.126/127. Mapa gravado, colorido, em 4 (quatro) folhas numeradas e superpostas sobre tela, mostrando as capitanias de Pernambuco, Itamaracá, e araíba, desde o "Porto Fransico" até ao "Rio Tassoyo". Nomenclatura, ao longo do litoral, em português, holandês e francês.
h) [Vista Panorâmica da chegada ao Porto da Villa de Barcellos, na Capitania de São José do Rio Negro, da Expedição de Limites sob o Comando do Capitão General João Pereira Caldas, em 17 de outubro de 1780].P.97. Desenho a nanquim , 28 x 74cm.
i) Rio Araguari desde a sua foz até as cabeceiras. 1798. Cópia a nanquim e tinta azul. 74 x 84cm. (Há no acervo uma incompleta, em escala menor, de 44 x 89cm.)
j) Carte très curieuse de la Mer du Sud, contenant des remarques nouvelles et très utiles nom seulement sur les ports et îles de cette mer, mais aussi sur les principaux Pays de l'Ámérique tant Septentrionale. que Meridionale, avec les noms & la Route des Voyageurs par que la découverte en été faite. Le Tout pour l'intelligence des dissertations suivantes [Amsterdam, Z. Chatelain, 1732-1739] Gravura a negro. 82 x 142cm.
k) A Map of South America containing Tierra Firma, New Granada, Amazonia, Brasil, Peru, Paraguay, Chaco, Tucuman, Chili and Patagonia. London Published by Laurie & White, 1794. Gravura. 98 x 117cm.
l) Forte Príncipe da Beira. Levantamento topográphico local, com o plano primitivo do forte. Planta por Hormino Pinheiro, Engenheiro-Ajudante da 4ª Divisão da Estrada deFerro Madeira-Mamoré. Ferroprussiato. 55 x 98,5cm.
m) Carta 6ª da costa do Brasil Ao Merediano d'Rio d'Janeiro Dez de a Ponta de Araçatuba athe a Barra do Guaratuba Pelo P. M. Diogo Soares S.J R no Estado do Brasil. 1737. Manuscrito a nanquim colorido a lápis de cor. 19 x 32cm. (No canto superio esquerdo há uma anotação do Barão do Rio Branco.
n) ... Viagem que fes o Soldado Dragõ [!] Joaq.m Vieira Passos, a companha-do demais 2 Dragoens e 12 Pedestres. Sendo assim executado por ordem do ILL.mo E Exmo. General da Capitania de Mato Grosso no Mes de Outubro de 1791. Manuscrito a nanquim e aquarela. 40 x 23cm.
o) [Mapa que mostra a Capitania de Goiás e a região ao sul até o rio da Prata. Francisco Tosi Colombina (?) ca 1756]. Manuscrito a nanquim em papel encorpado. 88 x 48cm.
p) [Mapa do médio Tocantins e região adjacente com as Missões do Duro. Meados do século XVIII]. Manuscrito colorido. 33 x 42cm. p.112.
q) Cópia do Borrador Topografico , e Espanhol da Linha Divisória que cita o artigo XII do Tratado Preliminar, e ajusta das distancias athe o o seu ponto final. Cópia aquarelada sobre pergaminho. 25 x 56cm. (O acervo dispõe de uma litografia feita em Lisboa.)
r) [Planta da Baía de Paranaguá e região contígua] Cópia manuscrita aquarelada, com predominância dos tons verdes, em papel encorpado, do original manuscrito e colorido que pertence ao Arquivo Histórico Colonial, em Lisboa. 41 x 30 cm. p. 286.
s) Mapa Geográfico da Capitania do Seará. Mapa manuscrito a nanquim e aquarela, em papel encorpado. 15 x 17 cm em folha de 34 x 22 cm. p.149.
t) Planta do lugar Capital de Pastos bons formado sobre hua Serra e rodiado de Matos com cazas q se podem avistar do quartel militar que hé na maior eminencia. Mapa manuscrito, aquarelado. 36 x 24cm. p.139.
u) 1ª Seção do caminho de ferro de Pedro 2º que comprehende desde o Campo de Acclamação até Belem ondeprincipia a Serra [ca. 1860] Esboço original a traço de pena, feito pelo Barão Duarte da Ponte Ribeiro. 18 x 51cm.
ATLAS LIST
a) Almanach Géographique ou Petit Atlas élémentaire composé de cartes générales et particulieres des differens Empires ... À Paris, Chez Desnos Librairie et Ingénieur-Géographe de Sa Magesté Danoise ...[1770] 32 mapas coloridos. 12 cm.
b) Descriptio de L'Isle de Sicile et de ses côtes Maritimes avec les plans de toutes ses Forteresses nouvelles tirés selon l'Etat où elles se trouvent presentement. Vienne d'Áutriche, chez Juan Van Ghelen, Imprimeur de la Magesté Imperiale & Catholique ... 1719.
c) Atlas Maior. F.ci de Wit. Amstelodami cum Privilegio Potentissimorum D. D. Ordinum Holandiae et westfrisiae. tot Amsterdam by Frederick de Wit privilegie van de Grootmogende Heeren Staten van Hollant en Westvrieslant. Gravura. Fronf. 78mapas col (dobr.) 53 cm.
d) The American Atlas; containing the following maps ... New York, published by John Reid, Bookseller and Stationer, nº 106, Water -Street, 1796. Gravura. 1 f. p. 20, [1] mapas, in-8º. 42 x 27 cm
e) Het eerst deel Van Het Brandende Veen, verlichtende Alle de Vafte Kuften ende Eylenden Van geheel Wet-Indien, Beginnende van linie aequinoctiael, ofte Rio Amazonas; ... in Zeeland. t'Amsteldam, Gelfneenden/ Gedruckt en Untgehen door Pieter Goos, in Compagnie met den Autheur. Met Privilegie voor 15 jaren [1675]. Gravura. 3 f. p.62, [1] p. 31 (i.e. 32) mapas coloridos.50cm.
f) Atlas de la Navigation et du Commerce Qui se fit dans toutes les parties du monde, expliquant par des Cartes &par des descriptions particulieres de toutes les Côtes e Parts de Mer de lÚnivers, la Nature ... Gravura.96 [2] p. 28 mapas, 6 est. 53 x 32cm.
g) Le Petit Atlas Maritime. Recueil de cartes et plans des quatre parties du monde em cinq volumes. Gravura. v. I e II. 33 x 25cm
Source: Communicated by Jose Parrot (parrot@wnetrj.com.br or parrot@parrot.to) via the Museum Security Network, 7 October 2003.
"De Humani Corporis Fabrica" (On the Fabric of the Human Body) by celebrated Flemish anatomist Andreas Vesalius, is on display at Nippon Dental University's medical museum in Niigata city. But the University of Oxford's Christ Church College claims the texts, which date from 1552, comprise one volume of 74 books stolen from its famous library between 1992 and 1995. Oxford officials have requested Nippon Dental University return the books, which are valued at around £7,000 (1.3 million yen). But museum officials dispute Christ Church College's claims and say the purchase of the books was above board. ``The books were donated for medical studies purposes and the copies (we have) are not the only ones, so it isn't so easy to conclude they are the ones stolen from Oxford,'' said museum head Teruo Higuchi. ``The books were bought legitimately and are legally owned by the university. Even if they were initially stolen, we don't have to return goods two years after buying them if we bought them without realizing they were stolen.'' The museum clarified its stance in a letter to Oxford sent Monday, Higuchi said. The 74 books, including a rare edition of ``The Origin of Species'' by Charles Darwin and works by, among others, Issac Newton, were stolen from Christ Church College's library by Simon Heighes, a former BBC Radio host and a specialist in baroque music who used to lecture at the university. Heighes was sentenced to two years in prison for the thefts. Seventy-three of the books have since been traced and returned to Christ Church. Only the "De Humani Corporis Fabrica" texts, which comprise one volume of Vesalius' seminal work, have yet to be returned. ``It is common sense that stolen goods should be returned to the original owner,'' said David Morris, the University of Oxford's Japan representative, adding Nippon Dental University has a moral, rather than legal, obligation to return the books. ``We have no wish to damage the reputation of the (Japanese) university,'' ... Officials of Christ Church College library first noticed some of their prize books had disappeared in May 1995. Heighes was arrested soon after and admitted selling the volumes to auctioneers Sotheby's. The two Vesalius texts were bought by a U.S. secondhand book dealer in 1994, who later sold them to a Japanese dealer. Finally, an unidentified buyer bought the books and donated them to the dental university, Oxford officials say.
Source: CPP/MSN list, Vol. 2, issue 99 (3 October 2003) citing story by Tsutomu Yamashita on Asahi.com.. For earlier stories see: CPP/MSN list, Vol. 2, issue 94 (21 September 2003) citing The Japan Times Online. Subsequently reported on Exlibris.
September 2003
A 300-year-old -copy of the Bible's Book of Psalms, written in the ancient Ethiopian language of Ge'ez, is to be returned to Ethiopia 135 years after it was stolen from the city of Magdala by British soldiers. "The manuscript was part of a huge haul of loot taken by British troops during the 1868 invasion of Ethiopia to free Western diplomats imprisoned by Emperor Theodore II. ... The bulk of the plunder made its way into institutions like the British Museum and Oxford's Bodleian Library. But a large number of smaller items were taken home by individual soldiers and ended up in private collections. The holy book, which will be returned to Ethiopia later this month, was bought from a private collector for (pounds sterling)750 after being spotted in a bookdealer's catalogue by members of AFROMET - The Association for the Return of the Magdala Ethiopian Treasures. The return will increase pressure on the British museums and galleries that still hold onto hundreds of illuminated manuscripts and other plundered items taken during the siege."
Source: CPP/MSN list, Vol. 2, issue 98 (1 October 2003), citing article by Hugh Macleod in The New Zealand Herald.
July 2003
It was reported that the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth had suffered thefts valued at £100,000 from its collection. The thefts were discovered in 2001. Razors had been used to steal a number of maps dating from the early and mid- 17th century. Staff were alerted to the thefts after reading that Peter Joseph Bellwood as suspected of raiding European library treasures. They checked their records and realised he had visited the National Library, and subsequently uncovered the rare maps were missing. None of the maps had been recovered.
Source: CPP/MSN list, Vol. 2, issue 69 (26 July 2003) citing BBC NEWS. This report generated discussion Exlibris.
Two men have been arrested in an extensive museum library and print room theft case. Hundreds of prints and books were reported stolen from the Armymuseum in Delft, The Netherlands, in April 2003. In the house of one of the arrested suspects part of the stolen collection has been recovered. Even though the district attorney's press release suggests a museum worker is involved, both the museum and the DA refuse to comment on this. Present estimates of the damage caused reach Euro 400.000,-. A (probably incomplete) list of stolen items has been published online at: http://www.antiqbook.nl/gestolen/ Antiquarian booksellers have been informed about these thefts. The investigation continues.
Source: CPP/MSN list, 23 July 2003.
"Lost Worlds", a feature article by Mark Honigsbaum on map thieves Melvin Nelson Perry and Peter Bellwood, appeared in The Observer Magazine, Sunday, 20 July 2003.
Source: Notice by Everett Wilkie on Exlibris, 21 July 2003.
Toronto police recovered a collection of rare and very valuable medical books but they could not find who the volumes were stolen from. A man was arrested when the books were recovered, June 18, having been offered for sale to a dealer, but the books have not been reported missing in Canada, North America or anywhere else. Inspector Ken Kinsman of Toronto's 51 Division issued an appeal during a news conference yesterday to anyone who can help get the books back to where they belong. Police will not say how many books they have but said they are rare editions ranging from the early 1600s to the early 1800s, and are printed in various languages.. Some of the books displayed during the news conference were: Robert Burton's The Anatomy Of Melancholy (1676 ed.); Memoires De L'Academie Royal De Chirurgie, dated around 1700; Guilhelmi Fabricii Hildani's Observations And Surgical Experiments; Benjamin Bell's System of Surgery (1804), and Le Journal Des Scavans (1724).
Source: Story by Cal Millar in The Toronto Star, 17 July 2003, reported on Exlibris, 20 July 2003.
Notorious book thief Stephen Carrie Blumberg, 54, was arrested in Keokuk, Iowa, while in the process of stealing doorknobs from a vacant house.
Source: Associated Press story carried in the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, 12 July 2003 and transmitted via the Exlibris and CPPMSN electronic discussion lists, 13 July 2003
The National Library of Argentina lost more than 120 maps dating from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries due to theft. An individual was discovered removing plates from valuable atlases that were stored in the "Mapoteca." Luis Alberto Videla was discovered in possession of eight maps that had been removed from books such as "Il gazzetiere americano" and "Theatrum orbis terrarum," which he had consulted in the "Treasure Room." Videla was detained and placed under judicial authority. In his house [an additional] eighteen engravings were found. The provenance of these illustrations is under investigation. A review of the library's holdings, conducted after Videla's detention, revealed that some mutilated atlases had been previously consulted by Videla, according to "The Nation." It was believed that a network was responsible for the systematic thefts of materials from the National Library, which has only 14 employees to ensure the security of a building of 40,000 square meters. In April 2003, the Argentine press criticized the Library for not having a complete record of its holdings and and for not having the facilities to protect the books that it holds.
Source: Based on translation by Daniel Slive of an article in the Buenos Aires El Universal, 2 July 2003. The original article appeared on the CPPMSN electronic discussion list.
A rare book of lithographs from the late 19th century disappeared from Thessaloniki's Aristotle University while part of it was occupied by activists protesting against the EU summit. The book was locked in an ostensibly secure part of the Archaeology Department's library in the School of Philosophy , along with some 300 other rare books, documents and archives. Members of the so-called Black Block of anti-globalization activists squatted in the building for four days, ending on June 22 when protesters clashed with police in the city. Officials had said they removed precious items and equipment from the university before the protesters arrived. The missing book is a German-language edition of Russian archaeologist N.P. Kontakov's "History and Treasures of Byzantine Enamelwork." It contains rare lithographs and 200 copies were printed in Frankfurt in 1892. An inventory of about 35,000 books is continuing. Archaeology Department head Theoharis Pazaris said yesterday that Interpol, libraries, and auction houses have been notified.
Source: CPPMSN electronic discussion list, citing article in Kathimerini, 10 July 2003.
Muhiddin Arabi's manuscript book, ''Kitab-ul Ba'', which was reported stolen from Yusuf Aga Library in Konya province, Turkey, on 5 April 2000 was identified by Stephen Hirtenstein of the Muhiddin Arabi Society in London, from descriptions in an auction catalogue. The book will be returned to Turkey through contributions made by the Ibn-i Arabi Society in Britain. Another 102 manuscripts, seven rare printed books and 63 golden inlaid covers also reported stolen have not been found yet.
Source: Anadolu Agency story in Turkishpress.com, 24 June 2002; reported on CPPMSN Vol. 2, Issue 51, June 27, 2003.
June 2003
Convicted book thief Benjamin Johnson was reported arrested on 6 June 2003, in connection with the bomb explosion at Yale University that took place on 21 May 2003. The bombing caused damage to rare books in the Yale Law Library. Johnson, who began serving a 15-month sentence in June 2002 for larceny convictions related to thefts from Yale's Beinecke Library, moved to a New Haven halfway house in February. He was allowed to enter a transitional supervision program that allowed him to return home with his parents. Johnson was reportedly released after more than a week in custody and placed back into a supervised parole program.
Source: Based on Associated Press reports posted on ExLibris 9 June 2003, and wnbc.com, 11 June 2003.
Kenyon College (OH) won a $1 million judgment against David Breithaupt, 44, and his girlfriend, Christa Hupp, 54, on 31 January 2003. The jury found Breithaupt and Hupp liable for unjust enrichment and conversion -- the civil equivalent of theft -- for taking library items and selling them to eBay bidders and rare-book dealers. None of the items that were sold from the collection at Kenyon has been recovered. Jurors dismissed the Gambier couple's claim that the Kenyon items they possessed and sold were taken from discarded boxes of books dumped as trash on the library loading dock. Hundreds of items, including correspondence from famed 20th century authors to the Kenyon Review, disappeared from the library beginning in 1998, or perhaps earlier, the college's lawsuit claimed. While he did not have a key to the special-collections section, Breithaupt was admitted by security guards and custodians on the pretext he had bent his key or accidentally locked it inside, the employees testified. The couple's financial records, produced during the trial before Common Pleas Court Judge Otho Eyster, showed $744,130 in unexplained, nonwage bank deposits from 1995 to 2000. Hupp operated a home business called Caves Curve Books, and Breithaupt served nearly a decade as a $10,000-a-year night library supervisor until he left in 2000.
The disappearance of letters, manuscripts and books was discovered in April 2000 when a Georgia college librarian bid on a Flannery O'Connor letter listed for sale on eBay by Hupp. The librarian soon realized, however, that the letter matched a photocopy of the document that Kenyon provided him in 1993.
Source: Full story, from The Columbus Dispatch, dated June 14, 2003, posted on CPPMSN and ExLibris, 25 April 2003. See also Kenyon College Fortnightly, 10 February 2003.
May 2003
A large number of nineteenth-century maps, prints and atlases were reported stolen from the library of the Netherlands museum. Please see source for a detailed report describing the items stolen.
Source: Cultural Property Protection Network/Museum Security Network, 30 May 2003.
On April 25, 2003, a photo album of Gen. George Armstrong Custer's family (circa 1862); 72 original photographs of Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman; and a 998-page medical lexicon that had belonged to a field doctor at the Battle of the Little Bighorn were stolen from the office of Michael Trujillo of Simi Valley, CA. On May 28, 2003, a transient named Delanor Chapman was arrested when he tried to sell some of the Sherman photographs to book and art dealers. Richard Aguilar, 36, also described as a Simi Valley transient, was still being sought by police at the time of the report.
Source: Reports by Karen Hibdon on InsideVC.com, 29 May 2003 and 29 April 2003. Report transmitted on the Cultural Property Protection Network/Museum Security Network, 29-30 May 2003.
On May 22, 2003, thieves broke into the Beth Hatefutsoth Museum in Tel Aviv. Thirty-four objects belonging to the Gross family were stolen from the temporary exhibition, "Journey to No End of the World". These objects included precious metal book bindings, manuscript scrolls and printed books. All are illustrated and described at http://de.geocities.com/jewish_museums/index.htm. Those with information were asked to contact William Gross at collectr@netvision.net.il.
Source: the Cultural Property Protection Network/Museum Security Network, 25 May 2003.
UC-Berkeley librarians discovered the theft of roughly $20,000 worth of rare books during a recent audit of an off-campus storage site, police said yesterday. An estimated 50 to 60 books were taken from the Northern Regional Library Facility at the Richmond Field Station sometime before 1997, when the library was using a less advanced tracking system, said UC police Capt. Bill Cooper. The books, including works by Jack London and some Beat generation writers, were not extremely rare, which probably allowed them to go missing without immediately raising any red flags, Cooper said. . While books in the facility are relatively secure and are not in general circulation, Cooper said many people have access to them, making for a large number of possible suspects. . Investigators plan to check with local book dealers, who may have come into contact with the stolen books, Cooper said. . Anybody with information about this case can contact the UC Police Department at (510) 642-6760.
Source: Story by Nate Tabak in The Daily Californian (UC-Berkeley), 1 May 2003.
Police said the head of an organization in charge of raising money for a central New York library system stole a $50,000 painting from the library's main branch and sold it for $200 at a garage sale. Thomas Dydyk, executive director of Friends of the Central Library, pleaded not guilty Saturday to a felony count of third-degree grand larceny. Police said Dydyk removed a painting by John Dodgson Barrow called "Ben Porter" from a vacant office in the Onondaga County library's main building in downtown Syracuse. . Dydyk allegedly sold the painting to the owner of a Skaneateles antiques shop, who recognized it as a valuable Barrow work. [A subsequent story by Dave Pieklik on WSTM_TV's news web site warned about the general threat to unprotected art in libraries and other public buildings.]
Source: Capital News 9 (Syracuse, NY), 11 May 2003; WSTM-TV (Central New York), 14 May 2003. Stories transmitted by Cultural Property Protection Network/Museum Security Network, 12 May 2003, and 16 May 2003.
Leah Stern and Michael Strongin reported in the Jerusalem Post, 13 May 2003, that valuable historical documents from the Weizmann and Jabotinsky Institutes, among others, were being offered for sale in the United States.
Source: The complete story is available on the Cultural Property Protection Network/Museum Security Network, 13 May 2003 ; an abstract only of the story appears on the Jerusalem Post web site.
April 2003
On 15 April 2003, the National Library of Iraq was ransacked and burned.
Source: Associated Press report by Charles Hanley published widely in the international media, including the Washington Post.
A top 10 of Britain's "most wanted" fugitives, . was published by Scotland Yard for the first time yesterday [4 April 2003]. Photographs and descriptions of the nine wanted men and one woman, with details of their alleged offences, were posted on the Metropolitan Police website. Most of the suspects, many of whom are considered extremely dangerous, have connections outside London and several are wanted for offences abroad. [Among those on the initial list,] Peter Bellwood, 50, is wanted for questioning by both Danish and Welsh police over the theft of thousands of antiquarian maps and prints stripped from 16th-century and 17th-century books in libraries throughout Europe.
[The Scotland Yard profile for Bellwood stated: "His modus operandi is to visit the libraries and cut out prints and maps from rare antique books dating from the 16th and 17th centuries. These rare pieces of history belonging to some of Europe's oldest establishments are left permanently destroyed but the maps stolen can be sold for between £500 and £10,000 to markets across the world. It is estimated that 4,500 maps of this type are missing from libraries across Europe."]
Source: Museum Security Network, 7 April 2003, excerpting story by Jason Bennetto, in The Independent, 5 April 2003; see also story by Steven Morris in The Guardian, 19 May 2003; story by Louise Male in The Yorkshire Evening Post, transmitted by Cultural Property Protection Network/Museum Security Network, 21 May 2003.
A sharp-eyed library historian cracked a theft case this week after recognizing a rare photograph stolen from the Snohomish County Museum and Historical Association [Washington]. His discovery led to the arrest of an Everett man who had allegedly been pilfering historical photos from the museum and peddling them to the library and other local collectors for pocket change. Police found thousands of photographs in storage cases and tacked to the walls of his apartment, though they're unsure how many of those were stolen.
Source: Museum Security Network, 7 April 2003, reprinting full report by Jennifer Langston, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 5 April 2003.
"Forty odd file folders of photos, manuscripts, leaflets, notes, letters, drafts, lengthy correspondence, memorabilia" relating to Herbert Aptheker were reported as missing from the Reference Center for Marxist Studies, in New York City, according to a detailed report posted by the Center's director, Mark Rosensweig. It was suspected that the material was stolen in January 2003 by a visitor conducting research at the Center.
Source: Message on the Progressive Archivists electronic discussion list, 1 April 2003.
March 2003
An original copy of the Bill of Rights stolen from the North Carolina statehouse by a Union soldier during the Civil War was recovered in an undercover sting, the FBI said Wednesday [March 19, 2003]. An FBI agent, in a two- hour meeting in Philadelphia on Tuesday, posed as a philanthropist trying to buy the document for the National Constitution Center, a new museum being built in Philadelphia's historic district. The agent met with a broker representing the seller, who wanted $4 million, authorities said. After some discussion, the broker called a courier. "A courier appeared with this document in a cardboard box, if you can believe that," said Jeffrey A. Lampinski, special agent in charge of the FBI's Philadelphia office. The handwritten document -- one of at least 14 copies made in 1791 for the first 13 states and the federal government -- is faded but in "reasonable condition," said Joseph Torsella, the museum's president. Curators put its value at $20 million to $30 million, he said. "It's telling that in America our treasures aren't gold or jewels, but ideas," Torsella said. No arrests were made, but no one has been promised immunity, the FBI said. Investigators declined to release any information about the seller or broker, and officials said a civil seizure warrant was sealed. The broker recently contacted the museum, which is scheduled to open July 4, about buying the document, and Torsella set out trying to raise money for the purchase. Torsella thought it might be the copy belonging to Pennsylvania, one of five states that have lost their copies over the years through fire, theft or loss. But during the talks, his staff came to believe it was the stolen copy from North Carolina based on handwritten information on the back. Torsella, working with Gov. Ed Rendell, a museum board member, then contacted authorities. Officials believe the Union soldier brought the document back to his native Ohio and sold it a year later, in 1866. They don't know if or when it changed hands after that. "From there it remained out of circulation until this very day," Lampinski said. At least two other attempts were made to sell the document to North Carolina authorities over the years -- one around 1925 and another in 1995-- but they were rejected, North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley said.
In 1995, the offer included veiled threats to harm the document if the seller's name surfaced, the FBI said. A federal judge in North Carolina signed the seizure warrant, based on probable cause that stolen property had been transported across state lines. That court will soon have custody of the document, and will ultimately rule on whether the state is indeed the legal owner. "North Carolina's stolen Bill of Rights has been out-of-state for nearly 140 years but never out-of-mind," Easley said in a statement. "It is a historic document and its return is a historic occasion." The document lists 12 proposed amendments, only 10 of which were initially ratified on Dec. 15, 1791, becoming known as the Bill of Rights. The amendments guarantee individual rights such as freedom of religion and speech.
Source: Museum Security Network, 20 March 2003. Brief report on CNN.com/U.S., 19 March 2003.
February 2003
Dana Essigman, 42, who worked as an archivist for the Massachusetts National Guard Museum and Archive in Worcester, MA, admitted in court to selling $50,000 worth of historical documents in order to pay off his bookie. Essigman pleaded guilty to 12 counts of larceny of more than $250 and one count of larceny of less than $250, was sentenced to two years probation, and faced a restitution hearing at Worcester Superior Court on March 20, 2003 said Worcester County District Attorney spokeswoman Liz Stammo. According to Col. Len Kondratiuk, director of the museum, several artifacts, historical documents and paintings were noticed to be missing in late summer and early fall of 2001. "I contacted the state police to ask them to set up surveillance," said Kondratiuk. "They discovered that Mr. Essigman was coming back after hours, and letting third parties come in, and he would sell items to them." On Dec. 27, 2002, state police arrested Essigman, Kondratiuk said. He had been a civilian archivist for the museum for more than 14 years. Items stolen included paperwork detailing military service orders for the state's militia prior to and during the Civil War. While many items were recovered, it remained unclear how many of the items weren't recovered, Kondratiuk said.
Source: Museum Security Network, 14 February 2003, from a story by Norman Miller in the MetroWest Daily News.
Michael John Williams was apprehended by police and charged with taking rare Revolutionary War-era documents that were later found being offered for sale on the Internet. Williams, 36, faced one count of felony theft and one count of receiving stolen property. He was ordered held in York County (Pennsylvania) Prison in lieu of $50,000 bail. Police said their investigation of the theft of the documents from the York County Heritage Trust led them to a Baltimore antiques dealer, who told them Williams sold him the documents. The dealer, who faces no charges, had posted the items for sale on the eBay auction Web site. Police tracked Williams to an alcohol-treatment facility in Hummelstown on Jan. 29, but he was apparently tipped off and fled. The documents were reported missing from the trust on Jan. 17 and have since been returned. They included an 1846 Fraktur Taufschein (manuscript Pennsylvania German birth and baptismal certificate) for Lucyana Stambach, attributed to Daniel Peterman; a July 1, 1775, letter to the Continental Congress from Col. James Smith, one of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence; a 1775 blank enlistment form used by the Minute Men of York County Battalion; and a public notice concerning the register of British prisoners of war, dated June 27, 1782. Williams was not affiliated with the museum, officials with the York County Heritage Trust have said. Williams was on parole for a conviction in a similar theft in Somerset County, police have said.
Source: Museum Security Network, 18 January 2003 and 8 February 2003, with information from The York Dispatch
John Charles Gilkey, 34, was apprehended by police in Palo Alto, CA, on January 29, 2003 on charges of grand theft and credit card fraud. Gilkey had purchased a first edition of John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath" by phone from book seller Ken Lopez and had the book, valued at around $6,000, delivered the Palo Alto Westin Hotel. The credit card number used in the purchase turned out to be stolen. Though dressed as a transient, Gilkey posted $15,000 bail pending a February 18 court hearing.
San Jose police had been investigating a similar theft since November when a Maryland bookseller reported that a $4,500 book sent in July to the Doubletree Hotel in San Jose had been purchased with a stolen credit card. Police said a witness had also identified Gilkey in connection with a rare-book theft on March 2, 2001, in Marin County. In that case, which police have referred to the state Attorney General's Office, the buyer paid $1,250 for a copy of L. Frank Baum's "Patchwork Girl of Oz'' and $850 for Thomas Mann's "Joseph in Egypt.'' Police are not sure how Gilkey allegedly obtained credit card numbers. There does not appear to be a common link to any of the stolen cards.
Source: Museum Security Network, 8 February 2003, from stories by John Woolfolk in the Mercury News. See also "The Name of the Thief: A Portrait of John Charles Gilkey", by Ken Sanders, in The ABAA Newsletter, v.14, no. 3 (Spring 2003): 1, 9-16.
Neil Winstanley, 45, took antique books while working as a casual paper conservator at the Middle Temple law library in London. He ripped out vital pages, some depicting detailed maps of the ancient world. Some were then auctioned off to collectors, Inner London crown court heard. It was estimated that Winstanley, from Leith, Edinburgh, caused £40,000 damage, and that he had received £6,000 from the sale of the books.
Winstanley was sentenced to nine months in jail on six counts of theft occurring between January 1, 1997 and March 2, 2000. Volumes stolen included two texts by Italian cartographer Giuseppe Rosaccio, dating back to 1595 and 1606, and valued at £4,500 each. Winstanley's employers at the law library grew suspicious when he browsed through antique works and then took special editions into an office for no reason. In March 2000 he was sacked. His dishonesty came to light when police were searching for maps stolen from the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth. They raided a collector's home and traced some of the items back to Winstanley. At his home officers found the front page of the 1569 La Biblia, the first Bible to be printed in Spanish, along with an 1897 book containing maps and three maps taken from a book from 1634. All the volumes recovered have been returned to the Middle Temple library, but many are too damaged to be restored.
Winstanley's defence lawyer, Francis Lloyd, said that Winstanley was found guilty of stealing similar items from a library in Greenwich, London, in June 2001 for which he did community service. Lloyd also told the court that Winstanley had been spending £60 a day on his heroin habit, but was now on a course of methadone and attending a drugs rehabilitation clinic in Edinburgh.
Source: Museum Security Network, 8 February 2003, from Press Association reports in The Guardian.