RBMS Security Committee: Theft Reports 2004
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 2004 to December 2004. For additional coverage or for information on how to report notices for possible inclusion on the list, please consult the cumulative index.
2004
August 2004
It was reported that an online antiquarian bookstore in Uppsala, Sweden, was selling books associated with libraries from the University in that city, and in particular from the Egyptology Library, whose books are often marked "Victoriamuseet".
Source: Exlibris electronic discussion list, 1 September 2004.
In "How I Stole a Ming Scroll," Patrick Bucklew reported on a theft he had perpetrated at the Berkeley Art Museum in the 1980's.
Source: Published in the September 6, 2004, issue of Time, the text of the article was posted by the Museum Security Network on August 30, 2004.
Detailed allegations of the theft of manuscripts from the Bibliothèque nationale de France were the subject of continuing investigations. A long-time curator of manuscripts was named in connection with the loss of 25 manuscripts (5 in Hebrew) and 121 other documents over a period of years. The curator was suspended from his position. The losses were first noted following an inventory taken in 1998. At least one manuscript was twice sold at auction, most recently in 2000. The problem of recovering the manuscript was also the subject of reports.
Source: Exlibris and CPProt electronic discussion lists, reprinting articles in French from Le Monde, August 4 and 5, 2004; and in English from Ha'Aretz, August 23, 2004.
The Royal Library of Denmark announced the recovery of some 3,200 rare books. A curator, now deceased, whose widow continued to direct volumes to auction houses in London and New York, had stolen the books.
Source: CPProt electronic discussion list, reprinting an article from Le Monde, August 11, 2004
A 1,300 year-old copy of the Koran was stolen from the village of Negel, in the Kurdistan province of Iran, on the Iraq border. The Koran is written in Kufic script with gilded page borders and dates from the 7th century. The same book had been stolen in 1992 but re
Source: Reuters news agency, August 18, 2004.
July 2004
One of the oldest surviving manuscripts on paper in Iraq, a medical treatise written in 1012 by the physician Mohammed bin Zakarai al-Razi, was confiscated by Scotland Yard after suspicious auctioneers suspected it was illegally obtained. The manuscript, valued at more than £250,000, turned up in a London auction room last year. Officers of the art and antiques unit of the Metropolitan police determined that it was one of hundreds stolen from the Awqaf library in Mosul in 1995. The manuscript will be returned to Iraqi authorities.
Source: Story by Maev Kennedy in Guardian Unlimited, July 7, 2004.
Maps and books were stolen and/or damaged from the University of Calgary's MacKimmie Library. The loss was estimated at $25,000 CAD ($18,350 USD). The maps, which were excised from volumes, were from survey and western geological map plates dating back to the 1890s.
Source: Library Journal Academic News Wire, May 25, 2004, citing Associated Press story in the Seattle Post Intelligencer, May 21, 2004.
The Antiquarian Archive announced the theft from
its offices of the following item:
Harriman, Edward H., et al. HARRIMAN ALASKA EXPEDITION: Volume I--Narrative,
Glaciers, Natives; Volume II--History, Geography, Resources. New York:
Doubleday, Page & Company, 1901. First edition. 4to/383pp. In dust jackets.
Source: Posting of David B. Ogle, The Antiquarian Archive, Los Altos, CA. to the Bibliophile electronic discussion list; reposted on Exlibris electronic discussion list, July 13, 2004.
Cambrian News' reports today that Joseph Peter Bellwood (also reported as Peter Joseph Bellwood) surrendered himself to police following an appeal for information on the BBC's 'Crimewatch' program. (See June 2004)
Source: Reported by Tony Curwen Consultant, Consortium of European Research Libraries, on Exlibris electronic discussion list, July 14, 2004.
Scotland Yard's Art and Antiques Squad recovered eight 17th and 18th century books stolen from a German library. Worth more than £100,000, the books were taken from the Lower Saxony State and University Library of Gottingen, apparently during the building's recent renovation. A German man is being held in connection with the attempted sale of these items.
Source: The Times, July 15, 2004.
Officials at the National Archives have instituted new security measures, including the installation of surveillance cameras, following the much-reported incident involving former National Security Advisor Sandy R. Berger's removal of classified material. The new measures emphasize careful monitoring of researchers, as well as limit the volume and type of material that researchers may review.
Source: Story by Eric Lichtblau in the New York Times, July 24, 2004.
Steven C. Blumberg, 56, of St. Paul, Minn.was arrested July 26 on an outstanding warrant for probation violation. Mr. Blumberg made bond and was released from jail.
Source: Story by Cindy Iutzi, Daily Gate, as reported on CulPropProtNet/MusSecNetwork, July 28, 2004.
June 2004
A suspect is reported to have stolen 100,000 rare maps from the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth. CRIMEWATCH UK has appealed for information on Peter Bellwood, currently on Scotland Yard's 10 most wanted list.
Source: Story by Carl Butler in North Wales Daily Post, June 24, 2004
A lengthy but incomplete list of materials still missing from the Army Museum in Delft, the Netherlands, was posted by Ton Cremers on the Museum Security Network with a request for information about any of the items. According to the report, numerous books, prints and paintings were stolen between 1998 and 2003, and the curator who committed the thefts was convicted and imprisoned in December 2003.
Source: CulPropProtNet/MusSecNetwork, 1 June 2004. See also theft reports (infra) for July 2003.
May 2004
A letter written in 1861 by Jefferson Davis was returned to the North Carolina State Archives The owner had purchased the letter at a Sotheby's auction in 1982 and had sought to sell it through Historical Collectible Auctions. The State was granted an injunction to stop the sale.
Source: Associated Press story reprinted on the CulPropProtNet/MusSecNetwork, 20 May 2004.
A student worker at the Penrose Library, Whitman College, was arrested for stealing hundreds of copies of Harper's Weekly (1857-1879) and Harper's Bazaar (1857-1916), and offering them for sale on eBay. Police in Walla Walla, Washington, reportedly arrested Jake J. Oelerich in connection with the crime.
Source: Library Journal Academic News Wire, May 25, 2004, citing Associated Press story in the Seattle Post Intelligencer, May 21, 2004.
April 2004
The Eugene Police Department was reportedly holding local resident Douglas Collver on charges of "first degree theft, which is theft of more than $750, selling stolen property and computer crime" for stealing books from the University of Oregon and selling them on eBay. Around 250 books were thought to have been involved. Signs of thefts were discovered by a Los Angeles bookseller who had examined a book which had been purchased by a customer on eBay.
Source: Story by Lisa Catto, in Oregon Daily Emerald, 6 April 2004. Also reported in LJ Academic Newswire, 13 April 2004 and 30 March 2004.
The Delhi police have nabbed four persons, including a Rajasthan Armed Constabulary guard, who were involved in stealing two almirahs full of books from the Lal Bahadur Shastri Memorial Museum here on Friday night. The damaged books, which were donated by the daughter-in-law of the former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, were recovered from a junk dealer. The books were sold by weight.
Source: Deccan Herald, April 5, 2004; from posting on CulPropProtNet/MusSecNetwork.
U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks issued Mimi Meyer, 57, of Chicago, a three-year probation on Jan. 30 for the theft of materials from The University of Texas at Austin's Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center. Sparks also ordered that Meyer pay restitution fees of $381,595. She had pleaded guilty to one felony count of stealing valuable cultural materials from a museum. Meyer was terminated as a volunteer in September 1992 when a rare volume from the stacks was discovered in her office. The volume had not been checked out and was outside a secure area, which is a violation of the Center's policy. Subsequent routine inventories raised suspicions that Meyer had taken items from the collection while she volunteered at the Center. "The crime occurred over a decade ago and we are grateful to finally have a resolution," said Thomas F. Staley, director of the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center. "Book thieves are almost always caught and eventually brought to justice. We worked closely with the FBI to insure this positive outcome. The good news is we developed much more sophisticated security measures and that we'll be recovering irreplaceable materials."
Meyer, a volunteer at the Ransom Center from 1989-1992, admitted to stealing and attempting to sell a copy of the rare book "Il Petrarcha," as well as 11 other rare books. ... Evidence of the theft appeared in 2001 when it was determined that Swann Galleries in New York listed "Il Petrarcha" as an item in its auction catalog. While this book had been reported missing at the Ransom Center in 1995, evidence of it being stolen was not conclusive until this discovery. The University of Texas Police Department and the FBI were then immediately brought into the case. As part of her plea agreement, Meyer agreed to provide information about the sale of books as well as return books still in her possession to the Ransom Center. It is believed that Meyer sold books to Swann Galleries, Heritage, Pacific Book Auctions and Sotheby's New York for more than $300,000.
"The true victims of library thefts are the public, students, faculty and researchers who have been denied access to these materials," said Staley. "While no library is 100 percent secure from thefts, I believe our review of internal procedures which have been in place now for over a decade and security upgrades of more than half a million dollars decrease the possibility of such occurrences." Some of the approximately 300 books being returned to the Ransom Center include books from the 15th century, a quarto edition of John Audubon's "Birds of America," Japanese art books, two important early editions by Italian printmaker Stefano della Bella and works by Lewis Carroll. Part of the restitution fees will be used for conservation treatments for the returned books and recataloging of the materials. ...
Source: News release by the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin, 2 February 2004. A story by Mark Lisheron, "The thief that rocked the Ransom Center," appeared in the Austin American Statesman, 1 February 2004. (See also entry for November 2003.)
March 2004
A story by Kary Booher about the theft of Bibles from book stores appeared in the Jackson Sun.Source: Book Arts electronic discussion list, reposting the article from CulPropProtNet/MusSecNetwork, 5 March 2004.
January 2004
A book collector's collection was stolen from a house in Western Oregon. An incomplete inventory of what was taken follows:1) Winnie-the-Pooh, set of four, 1st edition, signed by Milne
2) Kate Greenaway, various 1st editions
3) Wind in the Willows, illustrated by Rackham, 1st thus
4) Frank Baum, Oz titles, various 1st editions, 1st and early states
5) Grimm's Fairytales, illustrated by Rackham, 1st thus.
West coast dealers should be particularly attentive.
Source: Posting by Everett Wilkie on ExLibris, 12 January 2004
It was reported that Ronald Jordan, 62, of Finchley, was convicted by a British court of orchestrating the theft of thousands of travel guides from book stores over a five year period, and reselling them in book stalls.
"For four or five years Jordan paid thieves to steal books to order, then he sold them on to the unsuspecting public. He sold about 100 books a day; 30-40 on a stall in Dominion Street in the City each afternoon, then about 60 more at Waterloo where he stayed until midnight. It is estimated he sold 35,000 books in one year. Suspicions were raised about Jordan's stalls in 2002. A long investigation by the Metropolitan Police led to the recovery of 17,500 books worth an estimated £180,000 from his premises in July 2002. The case went to trial but was abandoned because of a procedural issue. Jordan was arrested again last July after a surveillance operation carried out by the City of London Police led to the seizure of 8,500 more books. He was found guilty of handling stolen goods and conspiracy to steal by Southwark Crown Court on 16 January this year, along with members of his network."
Source: Story by Gemma Bowes in The Observer, January 25, 2004; another account was posted on ExLibris, February 7, 2004.
The loss of five atlases was reported by Old World Auctions, whose serial number was written in pencil on an inside blank page.
1. Atlas Selectus, Schreiber,
4to, #21519
2. Atlas Minor Praecipau Orbis Terrarum Imperia, Seutter, #21521
3. Nautical Descriptions of the Coasts of Ireland, MacKenzie, #21534
4. Atlas Geographique des quatre parties de Monde, Buache/Delisle, folio,
#21537
5. Accuratissima Orbis Antiqui Delineatio., Horn/Jansson, folio, #21538
These atlases were purchased at Christies June 2003 sale and all have, in one or more locations, the stamp of the Free Library of Philadelphia. The atlases appear to have gone missing during the move to new office space in early November 2003. Those with any knowledge of the atlases or maps therein were asked to contact Curt Griggs (curt@oldmaps.com; Ph: 1-928-282-3944 or 1-800-664-7757 ; Fax: 1-928-282-3945)
Source: Posting by Everett Wilkie on ExLibris, 28 January 2004.
Copenhagen police rounded up hundreds of rare books stolen from the Danish Royal Library between the late 1960s and 1978. A 68-year-old woman and her son and daughter-in-lawm were taken into custody in connection with the theft. The Copenhagen Politiken newspaper reported that the woman was the widow of a philologist who had worked in the library's Oriental Collection. More than 3,200 books were stolen over a 10-year period, but only some 1,800 have been recovered so far.
Source: American Libraries, January 2004, p. 40.Authorities discovered 400 cookbooks, missing from local area public libraries, in an apartment in Bettendorf, Iowa. Police expected to charge a woman with first-degree felony theft.
Source: American Libraries, January 2004, p. 36, citing a story in the Des Moines Register, 21 November 2003.