For several decades I have been working on an annotated census of the
16th-century copies of Nicolaus Copernicus' De revolutionibus (1543
and 1566), so that knowledgeable dealers generally consult with me if
a copy is offered to them. A year ago a dealer sent me for inspection
a nice copy of the second edition. There was an erased library stamp
on the title page, and one word of the Latin inscription blacked out
with a magic marker. With my ultraviolet lamp I easily read the stamp
as Brno, but I realized in retrospect that I could also easily have
identified the book with a few Latin words from the inscription and a
computer search of my data base. It took only 36 hours working with
the e-mail to establish that the book had been returned by the Brno
University Library (where it had been kept during the Communist regime
and where I had seen it originally) to the local Augustinian Monastery
(where Gregor Mendel had once been Abbot) and to establish that the
book has not been deaccessioned or sold by the monastery.
More recently I was advised of another second edition being offered
in Germany, and a few key words of annotation sufficed to show that it
was a copy from the Pulkovo Observatory Library in St. Petersburg.
The Pulkovo Observatory Library suffered a disastrous arson fire
something over a year ago, and apparently someone thought that the
inventory of the library was now so incomplete that a missing book
would be presumed lost in the fire. The copy is now in the hands of
the international police awaiting further investigation.
At least two other copies of the first edition, besides the one just
reported from Kiev, are missing and have not turned up on the rare
book market. By the way, I am keen to learn of locations of this book
that might have been overlooked in the census.
OWEN GINGERICH
LONDON -- In all the sordid annals of imperialistic plunder, there probably has never been a snatch so brazen or a prize so precious as the glorious collection of statuary that was ripped from the walls of the Parthenon, the masterwork of Greek antiquity and the cornerstone of classical art. The majestic marbles, so supple and lifelike that the very stone seems to breathe, were taken from the Athenian temple in 1801 by a rich British traveler and diplomat, Lord Elgin (pronounce it, please, with a hard ``g'') and hauled to London, where they still reside in a massive gallery at the British Museum. Britain has brushed aside repeated appeals for their return, arguing that the curators in London are best equipped to protect these priceless treasures of human creativity. But secret documents that have just become public show that the British actually caused ``substantial and irreparable damage'' to the Parthenon sculptures in the 1930s. And then Britain's fine-arts establishment launched a coverup operation, both literally and figuratively, hiding the evidence and filling in the priceless marble carvings with colored wax. The furor over this famous museum display has prompted new questions about other museums around the world -- including the Smithsonian in Washington -- that feature art treasures lifted from their native lands.
AUCKLAND, Aug 17 (Reuters) - A NZ$2 million (US$1 million) painting
stolen at gunpoint from an Auckland gallery eight days ago has been
recovered, police said on Monday. The painting, ``Still on Top''
(1874) by James Tissot, was stolen by a gunman who burst into the
central Auckland Art Gallery, cutting the picture from its frame.
Police said the painting had been damaged and that a man had been
arrested and charged with aggravated robbery. It had been recovered
from under a bed in a farm cottage near Port Waikato, south of
Auckland. Gallery director Chris Saines said he was pleased to have
the painting back but was ``shocked'' at its condition. ``Stolen
paintings can go to ground for decades and, while I was always
confident that the police were going to do everything possible to
recover the Tissot, we have all been surprised by the speed and
efficiency of the recovery,'' he said. James Tissot was a 19th century
French painter and etcher, famous for a series of watercolours
illustrating the Bible.
Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.
The U.S. government's next step in its drive to restore to Holocaust
survivors or their families assets looted by the Nazis will be to host
an international conference on art in late November in Washington.
Paintings, jewelry, rare books and manuscripts, as well as non-bank
assets like insurance policies, bonds and shares will be discussed.
Last week, Swiss banks' agreed to pay $1.25 billion to Holocaust
survivors to compensate them for the wartime assets of their lost
relatives.
Undersecretary of State Stuart Eizenstat said last week that the
conference would look at guidelines already developed by U.S. museum
directors to check on the provenance of art works, identify looted art
and to compensate owners or heirs. The issue of stolen artworks was
brought to the fore last January when two paintings by Austrian artist
Egon Schiele, on loan to the New York Museum of Modern Art, were
impounded in Manhattan after local descendants of Jewish Holocaust
victims claimed the works were stolen from their relatives during
World War II. France is believed to have up to 2,000 paintings of
doubtful origin in its museums and is to set up a new commission of
inquiry. Russia provides a bigger headache. Soviet troops took copious
amounts of art from Germany at the end of the war. But despite
government promises of cooperation, it still holds that all art taken
from Germany is legitimate booty.
1998 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc.
The compromise that ended the legal wrangling over ownership of a
Degas pastel stolen from a Jewish family by the Nazis was simple and
elegant. But will it be precedent-setting?
``Both sides spent a ton of money,'' said Nick Goodman, one of the
plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
``It was a terrible waste, in a way,'' Goodman continued. ``We're
hoping this could be a landmark case that would show other families
one way to do it, so that they don't have to go through what we did.''
In the agreement announced Thursday, Nick and Simon Goodman along
with their aunt, Lili Gutmann, settled the dispute with Chicago
businessman Daniel Searle. At issue was the undisputed rights to
``Landscape With Smokestacks,'' an 1890 pastel monotype by Edgar
Degas.
Third-party evaluators will appraise the painting, and the average of
their numbers will be figured as the work's actual value. The Art
Institute of Chicago will purchase the Goodman family's share for half
of that amount. Searle will donate his share to the museum, of which
he is a trustee.
The bottom line is both sides avoid a protracted legal battle that
would have far outstripped the cost of the painting. The Goodmans get
cash, probably in the neighborhood of $450,000 to $500,000. Searle
gets a tax writeoff.
And the Art Institute, which advised Searle in the initial purchase
of the Degas, makes a coveted addition to its already extensive Degas
holdings for half-price.
Goodman vs. Searle is one of the first cases involving allegedly
stolen Nazi art to be settled, but whether it has implications beyond
the parties involved remains to be seen.
``I'm certainly hoping that it does,'' said Thomas Kline, one of the
Goodman family's attorneys. ``I represent a number of other art theft
victims, and there has to be a certain level of goodwill in working
these things out.''
``I can't see how this is some sort of pattern,'' said Howard
Trienens, an attorney for Searle. ``It's just another way of doing it.
The parties could also have agreed to send it out to auction, and
split the proceeds.''
Unlike jury settlement cases where damage amounts can be awarded and
compromise judgments can be reached, ownership of a painting is
cut-and-dried. One side gets it, the other side doesn't.
And in Goodman vs. Searle, the issues were clouded by intentions and
claims of diligence.
When the suit was filed in July, 1996, the Goodmans claimed that
``Landscape'' had been stolen from a Paris warehouse, where it had
been sent for safekeeping by their ancestors, Friedrich and Louise
Gutmann, who later perished in concentration camps.
Searle contended that the Degas, purchased in 1987 for $850,000 from
New York art dealer Margo Schab, was always in plain view.
The work had been exhibited and published in a number of catalogs.
Had the Goodmans' five-decade search been sufficiently thorough,
``Landscape'' could easily have been found, Searle argued.
Searle also claimed that ``Landscape'' was sent to Paris not for
safekeeping, but for sale by a family that needed money.
Searle's claim makes the resolution of this case particularly ironic,
with heirs of the Gutmanns completing the circle of intent by selling
their share of the work to the Art Institute.
The sale proceeds, to be split three ways among the plaintiffs after
legal costs are settled, won't be enormous by any means.
``The appraisers will probably come to a value of about $850,000,''
said R. Stanley Johnson, a Chicago gallery owner. ``Searle bought it
at a time when values were very high in the art market. At that price,
he probably overpaid for it. Its current value is probably what it
would have been anyway, after all of the market fluctuations.''
Ultimately, it is safe to say that when viewers see the work, which
goes on display Oct. 9, few will have any idea of the effort and
expense that went into the attribution plate that will read:
``Purchase from the collection of Friedrich and Louise Gutmann and a
gift of Daniel C. Searle.''
BOSTON (AP) - Worried Boston Public Library officials didn't have to
finish calculating the damage done by this weekend's flood to know the
cleanup would be a long and difficult one. Early Sunday morning, a
ruptured water main sent tens of thousands of gallons gushing into the
basement of the Boylston Street institution, damaging or destroying
more than 50,000 documents from the collection of the nation's oldest
public library, officials said. The water surged into the library's
oldest section, known as the McKim Building, after an underground
42-inch-wide iron water pipe burst shortly after midnight. Custodians
tried to stem the rising tide with mops and vacuums. But the library's
basement quickly became submerged, with as much as 4 feet of water
flooding some areas of the marble-tiled subterranean hallways. Water
also spilled into the library's main building, leaving about 4 inches
of water in basement areas there. "This is very frustrating," said
Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who surveyed the damage Sunday. "This
is the gem of our library system and the best public research library
in the country." Because water had completely flooded some stairwells,
library officials were not able to get close enough to gauge the full
extent of the damage late Sunday. They said casualties could include
government documents, topographic maps, patent indexes, periodicals,
furniture, microfiche machines and other computer equipment. Most of
the documents believed affected were neither priceless nor
irreplaceable, officials said. But the destruction dealt a blow to the
6 million-volume institution that houses New England's most complete
public collection of government documents. Library supervisor
Katherine Dibble said she was concerned about a sound archive room
containing more than 200,000 recordings, many of which were
one-of-a-kind LP records. "I'm also worried about mold and fungus from
the dampness," she said. "The water can damage books even if they
don't get wet." Dibble said the library's most precious possessions -
including 3,300 volumes that belonged to John Adams, a solid gold
medal that belonged to George Washington and a page from a
548-year-old Guttenberg Bible - were unharmed on upper floors of the
building. The 150-year-old library, which did not have scheduled hours
on Sunday, was expected to be shut at least through today. Financial
damage estimates were still incomplete on Sunday. The flooding also
closed surrounding streets and halted inbound MBTA service at Copley
Square. Public works officials were investigating the cause of the
water main break. The pipe - which dates back to 1895 - had undergone
restoration 10 years ago, said Janet Mainiero, a spokeswoman for the
Boston Water and Sewer Commission. Mainiero estimated it would take
several days to fix the pipe, but said water service would not be
seriously affected. She also said area residents may notice
discoloration of their water from rust, but that the water is safe for
drinking. AP-ES-08-16-98 2101EDT
The following is a brief summary of an article to be published in an
SFPE periodical this fall. It is by Michael J. Rzeznik, P.E., a fire
protection engineer with Gage- Babcock & Associates, Inc.
Later this year, our nation's most famous flag, a 185-year- old,
34-by-30-foot, 150-pound icon, will be taken down from its two-story
alcove in the National Museum of American History for its first
thorough cleaning and refurbishing in 34 years. The Star Spangled
Banner will be rolled up and taken to a specially installed
laboratory. By next year, the public will be able to watch the
delicate cleaning and mending. Specialists will lie on a small movable
gantry bridge to do the work. The lab will incorporate a wide array of
mechanical, electrical, security and fire protection features.
Fire detection be accomplished through use of aspirating system. This
system will use three thresholds to sound a pre-discharge alarm: shut
down local air-handling units, release door hold open appliances and
close smoke dampers. Cross zoned standard smoke detectors will
complete the automatic sequence and discharge the agent, unless the
sequence is interrupted by depressing an abort switch or overriding an
alarm at the releasing panel. A halocarbon suppression system was
designed for the space. Existing automatic sprinklers will be
renovated and used as a backup system.
The Star Spangled Banner is to be rehung, probably in 2001, in what
may be the largest museum showcase in the world. It will be climate
controlled, will have special lighting, and parts of these fire
protection systems will be reused to protect the flag in its new case.
