Date sent:

Date sent: Thu, 20 Apr 2000 13:59:30 -0500

From: Jonathan Sazonoff <saz@kwom.com>

Organization: SAZ PRODUCTIONS, INC.

Subject: Missing Books and Manuscripts

As many librarians and archivists subscribe to the MSN mailing list (as well as visit the web-site) I thought a posting concerning missing books and manuscripts might be in order. For those interested in this topic, here is a collection of on-line sources of information.

I would first like to give you an idea what’s involved when we talk about the high end of important, significant and expensive material. Although these works are not missing, I would like to share a brief list of the book world’s most expensive pieces.

Highest Priced Books and Manuscripts with year of sale:

1994 Leonardo da Vinci Codex $30,800,000

1999 Book of Hours 1505 Flemish $13,380,000

1983 Gospels of Henry the Lion $12,000,000

1998 Canterbury Tales $11,000,000

1987 Gutenberg Bible just under $ 8,000,000

1980 Leonardo da Vinci notebook $ 5,280,000

1998 Burdett Psalter $ 4,600,000

So with the knowledge that important and pricey rare books and

manuscripts pieces do exist, we can better appreciate the value of web

resources dealing with missing material. In the hope that dissemination

of this information might bring greater awareness of this topic, here

are some on-line sources of information concerning missing books and

manuscripts. Hope you find this of interest

Jonathan Sazonoff

Saz Productions, Inc.

http://www.saztv.com

Contributing US Ed.

Museum Security Network

http://www.museum-security.org/saz.html

SOURCES OF INFORMATION - MISSING BOOKS & MANUSCRIPTS

1. LISTINGS ON-LINE

2. RESOURCES

3. THEFTS BY COUNTRY

4. BOOK THIEVES

5. MAPS

6. LOOTED BOOKS

7. MUSEUM SECURITY NETWORK ARCHIVES

MISSING BOOKS & MANUSCRIPTS

1. LISTINGS ON LINE:

INCIDENTS OF BOOK THEFT

http://www.museum-security.org/booktheft2.html

ABE ... Please be on the lookout

http://www.abebooks.com/cgi/abe.exe/routera^_pr=theft^_ph=1

ABE Theft page

http://abebooks.com/theft.htm

INTERPOL CD (lists over 850 missing books)

http://www.art-stolen.net

2. RELATED RESOURCES:

RBMS homepage (a fine place to start)

http://www.princeton.edu/~ferguson/rbms.html

Guidelines for the security (See appendix II. reporting theft)

http://www.ala.org/acrl/guides/raresecu.html

Manuscript Society Index - see theft

http://www.manuscript.org/nltenyri.html

3. THEFTS BY COUNTRY:

Asia (general notes)

Collections Care in Southeast Asia - (notes some Asian losses)

http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla65/papers/119-102e.htm

Burma and Beyond: The Luce Collection

http://www.nla.gov.au/nla/staffpaper/agosling1.html

Denmark

Theft of Russian art books

http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/exlibris/1994/02/msg00119.html

Ethiopia:

Daily Mail &Guardian: Ethiopian antiquities stolen for collectors

http://www.mg.co.za/mg/news/99jun2/22jun-ethiopia.html

France

Theft Report (Charles V material)

http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/exlibris/1995/01/msg00084.html

Stolen rare book by Ptolemy recovered in London

http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/exlibris/1998/06/msg00002.html

Germany

Armenia returns stolen books to Germany

http://www1.omnitel.net/arkadija/a50.htm

AYMHM:Articles You May Have Missed—WN Jan 1993 (Quedlinburg

manuscripts)

http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/waac/wn/wn15/wn15-1/wn15-115.html

Epilogue: Books looted during Holocaust might now be in Library of

Congress - 1/7/00

http://detnews.com/2000/religion/0001/07/01080009.htm

Restitutions

http://dig.dhh-3.de/biblio/bremen/sow3/rebooks.htm

Greece

ARCHIMEDES ANCIENT MANUSCRIPT

http://www.omogenia.com/arch.htm

Israel

Stolen Scrolls

http://voice.bloomu.edu/2-8-96/world/wbrief.html

Italy:

Books stolen from the British Institute of Florence

http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/exlibris/1998/09/msg00093.html

Libri

http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Libri.html

Pakistan:

ane.960221.13

http://www.umich.edu/~classics/archives/ane/ane.960221.13

Poland:

Rare books stolen from Polish library

http://community.bouldernews.com/news/worldnation/12abook.html

Rare books stolen from university in Poland

http://www.seattle-pi.com/national/pole13.shtml

Theft & Security -Copernicus

http://www.joslinhall.com/musn15.htm

The Warsaw Voice - News

http://www.warsawvoice.com.pl/v571/NewsInBrief.html

Russia:

Copernicus tempts thieves worldwide

http://www.sunmedia.ca/CNEWSHeyMartha0002/14_book.html

Rare book filched from Russian library

http://gotonet.google.com/search?q=cache:www.canoe.ca/TorontoNews/03_n2.html

Russian police recover stolen manuscripts (Russia)

http://www.tibet.ca/wtnarchive/1994/12/17-2_3.html

Russian Thefts

http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/exlibris/1995/01/msg00096.html

SPB PRESS #133 - Yakubovsky trial date set for spring

http://www.friends-partners.org/oldfriends/spbweb/sppress/133/yakub.html

SPB PRESS #125 - Librarian shows ‘stolen’ books

http://www.friends-partners.org/oldfriends/spbweb/sppress/125/librar.html

SPB PRESS #123 - More million-dollar books stolen from library

http://www.friends-partners.org/oldfriends/spbweb/sppress/123/more.html

Ukraine:

The Ukrainian Arts Monitor, Volume 1, Issue 17

http://www.ukraine.org/www.ukrainet.lviv.ua/uam/95/117eng.html

Copernicus sun-theory book stolen (Daily Telegraph)

http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/bookarts/1998/08/msg00133.html

Re: Copernicus sun-theory book stolen (Daily Telegraph)

http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/exlibris/1998/08/msg00079.html

United Kingdom:

BBC News | UK | Bard’s work stolen from library

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_238000/238385.stm

Stolen books in London

http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/exlibris/1999/05/msg00085.html

RARE BOOK STOLEN IN ARMAGH 151299 (update 22/12/99)

http://www.ruc.police.uk/press/1999/dec/swift.htm

Tyrone Courier Page 1

http://gotonet.google.com/search?q=cache:www.ulsternet-ni.co.uk/gaz/wk05/page1.htm

Recovered:

Antiques Trade Gazette Online - News Page

http://www.atg-online.com/news/news17-2.html

United States:

CA, Stolen book

http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/exlibris/1994/07/msg00061.html

CA, Feb 1982 Burglary Case

http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byorg/abbey/an/an06/an06-1/an06-103.html

CA, Two Missing Books: COTTA, 1623. CAIUS, 1544.

http://sul-server-2.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/exlibris/1997/06/msg00071.html

CT, Theft of Science books and plates

http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/exlibris/1993/11/msg00183.html

CT, Rare Comics Stolen

http://scifi.ign.com/comics/3230.html

DC Missing from View! - Ezra Pound Collection Lost

http://www.artresources.com/departments/hot.sheet/missing.ihtml?n=38

MA, BookZen-Theft from Kerouac Collection at U. MASS, Lowell

http://www.bookzen.com/kerouac.theft.html

MA, Rare Zoology Books Stolen

http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/1999/11.11/police.html

MT, Theft Report

http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/exlibris/1992/03/msg00012.html

NM Book theft

http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/exlibris/1993/02/msg00077.html

NY, Columbia Rare Books & Manuscripts - Missing

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/libraries/indiv/rare/missing/

NY, BookWeb: Bookselling This Week: NYC Bookseller Fingers Amateur

Thieves

http://www.bookweb.org/news/btw/199.html

NY, Missing book alert (fwd)

http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/exlibris/1994/10/msg00172.html

UT, Stolen Book Alert Salt Lake City

http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/exlibris/1994/10/msg00221.html

UT, Beyond All Description - The case of the missing rare Mormon books

http://www.mormonism.com/frmain.htm

WI, Missing from View! - University Suffers Theft of Rare Books

http://www.artresources.com/departments/hot.sheet/missing.ihtml?n=36

· US Recovered:

CA, SF Law Library Rare Book Theft & Sentencing

http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/exlibris/1997/06/msg00121.html

MA, Man Charged With Theft and Concealment of Four Valuable Books

http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/bookarts/1998/03/msg00563.html

MA, Adams theft (recovered)

http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/exlibris/1996/11/msg00118.html

MA, Harvard theft

http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/exlibris/1997/04/msg00195.html

NY, Rare Items Stolen from Butler Library

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/record/archives/vol20/vol20_iss6/record2006.20.html

NY, Columbia Theft - Ashton’s day in court

http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/exlibris/1998/03/msg00222.html

NY, The News-Times Local News - Woman charged in rare-book theft

http://www.newstimes.com/archive99/mar1199/lcn.htm

PA, Philadelphia Rare Books and Manuscripts: Philly Confidential

http://prbm.com/sting.htm

VA, Bland denied bond; Police, FBI continue map search

http://cavalierdaily.student.virginia.edu/.Archives/1996/January/26/nsbland.asp

VT, Recovery of Rare Book

http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/exlibris/1994/08/msg00121.html

Uzbekistan:

Uthman Quaran

http://www.aapi.co.uk/q-news/248p7.htm

Vatican:

Press Release

http://www.customs.ustreas.gov/hot-new/pressrel/1997/0612-00.htm

Recovery

http://www.princeton.edu/pr/pwb/96/0304-marrow.html

4. BOOK THIEVES

Book Theft & book thieves

http://natconf.si.edu/Steve%20Huntsberry%20Paper.html

Security Ch42 - several notes on book thieves & theft

http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r8722e/r8722e16.htm

Stephen Blumberg and His Stolen Books

http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byorg/abbey/an/an15/an15-7/an15-702.html

News—ANL Jun 1994 (notes on book thieves)

http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byorg/abbey/an/an18/an18-2/an18-201.html

Re: Suspect in manuscript theft (note on Danial Spiegelman)

http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/exlibris/1995/12/msg00231.html

Indictment of James Gilreath for rare book theft

http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/exlibris/1998/02/msg00036.html

5. MAPS

Mr. Bland’s Evil Plot to Control the World

http://www.outsidemag.com/magazine/0697/9706bland.html

MAJOR MAP THEFT

http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/exlibris/1996/02/msg00281.html

Mercator’s World: Feature - Cut and Run

http://www.mercatormag.com/102_manasek.html

Mercator’s World: Mercator’s Log

http://www.mercatormag.com/302_log.html

Johns Hopkins Gazette: January 2, 1996

http://www.jhu.edu/~gazette/janmar96/jan0296/02thefts.html

stolen maps returned

http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/exlibris/1996/05/msg00020.html

6. LOOTED BOOKS

Library looting (general)

Hear it again/Libraries and their ashes

http://www.oneworld.org/index_oc/299/hughesmanguel.html

Afghanistan looting

Dangerous Places: Afghanistan

http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/world/dp/dp_a3c.html

African looting

Archival materials in Africa

http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla65/papers/094-102e.htm

Bosnia looting

The Bosnian Manuscript Ingathering Project: Hatred of Memory

http://www.applicom.com/manu/lovrenov.htm

China looting

Library looting

http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~felsing/ala/lee.html

Victorian Naval Brigade to China, 1900-1901

http://users.netconnect.com.au/~ianmac/china.html

Cyprus looting

Plundering the Sacred: Police Recover Artworks Looted from Cyprus’s

Churches

http://www.bib-arch.org/bas-archive/cyprus.html

East Timor Looting

East Timor & Tamil Eelam

http://www.tamilnation.org/fourthworld/easttimortamileelam.htm

Hungarian looting

László Mravik

http://www.hungary.com/hungq/no150/053.html

Yemen looting

sufi.html

http://www.aiys.org/webdate/trove.html

World War II

Japanese looting

ICF Press Release Dec 11

http://persweb.direct.ca/bfung/ICF1211.htm

Nuremberg - The Trial of German Major War Criminals (Volume VI)

http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/imt/tgmwc/tgmwc-06/tgmwc-06-54-15.html

Nuremberg -Trials of German Major War Criminals: Volume 7

http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/imt/tgmwc/tgmwc-07/tgmwc-07-64-04.shtml

12/3/98: Judge Abner Mikva—Holocaust-Era Assets Conference Chairman’s

Concluding Remarks

http://www.state.gov/www/policy_remarks/1998/981203_mikva_heac_concl.html

Trove of war propaganda included stolen Jewish works

http://codoh.com/newsdesk/000106.html

Special Reports

http://www.dhh-3.de/biblio/bremen/sow3/llpilot.htm

Special reports

http://www.dhh-3.de/biblio/bremen/sow1/specific.html

Bibliography

http://www.dhh-3.de/biblio/bremen/sow/general.html

Georgia returns German loot

http://www.soros.org/monitor/0035.html

THE TIMES: FOREIGN NEWS:Himmler ‘obsessed by witches’

http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/tim/2000/01/11/timfgneur02003.html?999

Germany plundered artistic and scientific treasures, reports say

http://www.business-server.com/newsroom/ntn/health/051997/health12_24465.html

Study Mission into the Looting of Jewish Assets in France

http://www.france.diplomatie.fr/archives/archives.gb/matteoli/index.html

Rosenthaliana: The return of the Blbliotheca Rosenthaliana but not

without damage

http://www.uba.uva.nl/nl/publicaties/treasures/text/t52.html

Poland: Germany Seeks Cultural Treasures

http://www.rferl.org/nca/features/1998/04/F.RU.980410132038.html

Russian Loot

http://www.libfl.ru/koi/rare/images/esteras/start.html

Social History and Russia no 5

http://www.iisg.nl/rus5uk.html

7. MUSEUM SECURITY NETWORK ARCHIVES (password required)

Notes on book and manuscript theft & recovery

1999 ----------------------------------------

Rare books stolen from university in Poland

http://www.museum-security.org/99/098.html

Rare Books and Manuscripts http://www.museum-security.org/99/094.html#2

Books of the Library of the Counts of Ortenburg (Bavaria) sold

http://www.museum-security.org/99/094.html#12

Investigation theft of antique books from Jagiellonian Library

http://www.museum-security.org/99/081.html#1

Thieves steal medieval Koran http://www.museum-security.org/99/060.html#2

Stolen books http://www.museum-security.org/99/016.html#7

Recoveries & Trials - 1999

Ichabod’s owner charged in book thefts

http://www.museum-security.org/99/112.html#5

Rare Ptolemy Book Found in Germany

http://www.museum-security.org/99/087.html#5

Spiegelman arrested again http://www.museum-security.org/99/083.html#3

Rare historic book recovered from Canada trash can

http://www.museum-security.org/reports/003499.html#2

1998-----------------------------------------

UKPounds:1m Shakespeare folio stolen in university raid

http://www.museum-security.org/reports/08198.html#4

Rare Copernicus book stolen from Polish library

http://www.museum-security.org/reports/07498.html#1

Books stolen from the British Institute of Florence

http://www.museum-security.org/reports/05698.html#17

Copernicus sun-theory book stolen (Daily Telegraph)

http://www.museum-security.org/reports/05098.html#1

Diebstahl in der Nationalbibliothek

http://www.museum-security.org/reports/03098.html

Stolen manuscripts http://www.museum-security.org/reports/02398.html

MAP THEFT INFO http://www.museum-security.org/reports/01898.html

Stolen materials (book) http://www.museum-security.org/reports/01598.html

Recoveries & Trials - 1998

Library vandal pleads to ripping blank pages from

bookhttp://www.museum-security.org/reports/06298.html#10

Stolen rare book by Ptolemy recovered in London

http://www.museum-security.org/reports/03398.html

United States v. Spiegelman

http://www.museum-security.org/reports/02998.html

Stolen Manuscripts Recovered

http://www.museum-security.org/reports/02498.html

Man Charged in Theft of Mozart, Wagner Papers

http://www.museum-security.org/reports/01598.html

Indictment of James Gilreath for rare book theft

http://www.museum-security.org/reports/01398.html

1997-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Missing Fitzgerald books http://www.museum-security.org/97/20111997.html

£500,000 atlas by Ptolemy is stolen in Paris

http://www.museum-security.org/97/07111997.html

Blind man ‘has key to Tsar’s secret library’

http://www.museum-security.org/97/september22.html#6

Book theft at Univ. of Minnesota

http://www.museum-security.org/97/september4-5.html#3

Cairo Library http://www.museum-security.org/97/august27.html

book was stolen from a

bookstore:http://www.museum-security.org/97/artcrime5.html#5

Rare book disappears from Oxford college Feb 26, 1997

Recoveries & Trials - 1997

Book thief could learn something from heist

http://www.museum-security.org/97/27121997.html

Blumberg arrested (book thief)

http://www.museum-security.org/97/17121997.html

Library thief Gilbert Bland http://www.museum-security.org/97/17111997.html

Jury indicts historical-documents dealer again

http://www.museum-security.org/97/august21.html

Officials Applaud Return Of Medieval Folios

http://www.museum-security.org/97/august12.html#4

Dutch customs find rare atlases

http://www.museum-security.org/97/july28.html#8

U.S. to return stolen manuscripts

http://www.museum-security.org/97/july24.html

FBI finds two more books stolen from Adams library

http://www.museum-security.org/97/artcrime7.html#8