News about map thefts

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News about map thefts

Related pages:

The E. Forbes Smiley III map thefts: reports and news stories (2005-May 2007)
Library Security for Maps (report on the MAGERT meeting, June 2007)
Issues arising out of the Forbes Smiley affair (2005)
What can the International Map Collectors' Society do to deter map thieves? (mounted February 2006)
How should we respond to early map thefts? (2002)
Links relating to the theft of early books and maps
Report of the 'Responding to Theft' seminar (National Library of Wales, 25 April 2002)
European map thefts (2001)

News Sources
The archive of the ExLibris list contains many messages on this subject. These are mounted in their web archive immediately. Search ExLibris messages, entering: map thefts. Another good place for breaking news is The Map Room weblog, whose archive includes a section on Map Thefts.

For news about the Forbes Smiley case (2005-May 2007) see Reports and news stories; for later entries see below

News stories

Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid (2007-2008)

Books, articles, etc.

News stories

2008

The Missing and Stolen Maps Database was officially launched on 27 April 2008. It is managed by the International Antiquarian Mapsellers Association (IAMA). For explanatory notes on the functioning of the Database see the announcement to the MapHist list. I wholeheartedly endorse the comment of Joel Kovarsky: 'we sincerely hope that librarians, dealers and collectors will make use of this site'. Now that a mechanism has been provided that allows widespread - and it is hoped, speedy - dissemination of news about map thefts, it is essential that all the communities involved support this initiative wholeheartedly. It should not be too long before the first thief is caught because of this Database.

< http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2008/04/09/artifacts_stolen_from_historical_society/ > 'Artifacts stolen from historical society' (The Boston Globe, 9 April 2008) - 'Police say someone stole everything from historic maps and clothing to a cannon ball from the New Castle (New Hampshire) Historical Society. Police Chief James Murphy says the thief or thieves forced their way into the society sometime during the weekend, leaving behind a trail of blood ... The society discovered the theft on Tuesday ... maps of New Castle also were taken.' [Update, 10 April in the Union Leader - 'New Castle historical society posts $2,000 reward in theft', by Clare Kittredge < http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline= New+Castle+historical+society+posts+%242%2C000+reward+in+theft&articleId=b672fc6a-9fb6-41b5-bae9-5ab6764bba61 >. More details are given of the break-in, including the fact that 'blood was left spattered over postcards, maps...'.]

< http://criminalbrief.com/?p=696 > 'When maps get lost' (by Rob Lopresti, 2 April 2008, on the blog 'Criminal Brief: the Mystery Short Story Web Log Project') - a personal account of events at Western Washington University and the tracking down of the suspect, James L. Brubaker. "They also found in the vicinity of 20,000 other maps and prints, hundreds of Indian artifacts, and a thousand or so books with property stamps from about 100 libraries." It turns out that Lopresti is a mystery writer. Via the Maps-L list, which carries a letter from Lopresti, asking what should happen to the unidentified maps and prints. [For a round-up post, including a list of news links, see the Map Room blog on 7 April 2008.]

< http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/to-catch-a-thief.html?c=y&page=1 > 'To Catch a Thief. How a Civil War buff's chance discovery led to a sting, a raid and a victory against traffickers in stolen historical documents' (by Steve Twomey in the Smithonsian Magazine, April 2008 - seen 28 March).
A multi-page article exploring the issues raised by various recent book and map thefts. The following samples give the flavour. '"Please, please, please don't keep it quiet," Rob Lopresti, a librarian from Western Washington University, told an American Library Association gathering in June. If you stay silent about a theft, Lopresti added, "you're sleeping with the enemy."' Inevitably, Smiley is mentioned: 'A task force of the American Library Association, assembled after the Smiley case, has proposed that institutions mark each map with a stamp of ownership in a place that "cannot be cut away without leaving an obvious incision," and that catalogs note unique features, such as stains, to distinguish each map from sibling originals. A modern, obvious ownership stamp on an old document is not a universally popular solution and marking tens of thousands of items would consume vast quantities of time and dollars. But, Harvard's Cobb says, "Any institution needs to make that commitment."'... 'But perfect security for a special collection or an archive will never exist, and their contents will never lose allure. Cobb, the map curator at Harvard, believes map losses might be rising as thieves try to satisfy buyers who have discovered that maps are historical, colorful and conversational - and not as expensive as traditional artwork. While most of the Archives' holdings are never going to fetch prices comparable to rare maps and old books, the Internet makes them just as easy to sell.'

< http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/16830591.html > 'Pay Dirt in Montana. A librarian's sleuthing turns up a crime with at least 100 victims' (by Steve Twomey in the Smithonsian Magazine, April 2008 - seen 27 March).{See end of the entry for updates}
After a thief ripped 648 pages of historic maps, lithographs and other items from books at Western Washington University (WWU) in Bellingham in February 2006, librarian Rob Lopresti kept an eye on eBay, hoping to spot the stolen items as they were fenced. And spot some he did. His sleuthing, investigators say, helped expose a lucrative history-for-sale scheme that might have more victims than any in recent years. On December 12, 2007, law enforcement officers used a warrant to search a house in Great Falls, Montana, where they discovered roughly 1,000 books from the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries that had been taken from at least 100 university and local libraries across the country, according to Great Falls detective Bruce McDermott. Besides the books, he says, they found some 20,000 individual pages of maps and other documents, each apparently ripped from a book ...

'In the Montana case, McDermott says, records at the house suggest that the enterprise completed more than 9,000 eBay deals in 2007 alone, grossing almost $500,000. As of late February, no arrests had been made, but McDermott says there is a suspect and an indictment is expected. The breakthrough in Great Falls came after Lopresti used a feature on eBay that alerted him whenever an item that contained certain key words was offered for sale. He and his staff had chosen about 40 such terms because various stolen pages contained them. Within a month, Lopresti says, it was apparent that an eBay seller in Montana had many pages similar to those taken from WWU. Eventually, Lopresti says, he turned to two friends on the East Coast to act as buyers, because the seller might be leery about bids coming from Washington State. The friends won the bidding for two suspicious pages, and in September 2006, the state crime lab matched their paper and tear marks with torn pages in WWU books.

'More than a year passed, however, before authorities obtained the search warrant. Sgt. Bianca L. Smith of the WWU police attributes the delay in part to the complexity of a case involving two states, Washington and Montana, and the federal government. She notes, too, that no one was in physical danger. During the long wait, Lopresti says, he kept seeing items sold on eBay that might have belonged to WWU. "I was going crazy," he says. Identifying the legitimate owners of the books found at the Great Falls house should not be difficult, because most contain library stamps or catalog numbers. But matching the thousands of individual pages with libraries might prove impossible, because a single map or photo ripped from a volume rarely has marks identifying where it came from. A page could be from any existing copy of a book, and there might be many copies around the world. Meanwhile, Lopresti and WWU have dramatically stepped up security, so that history cannot walk out the door again.' The article contrasts this case with that of Smiley and Bland.

[Update 27 March. The PhiloBiblos blog reports the arrest of the suspect, James Brubaker, and provides additional news links.] [Update, 1 April 2008: see < http://www.ala.org/ala/alonline/currentnews/newsarchive/2008/april2008/brubakerarrested.cfm > 'Washington Librarian Helps Nab Montana Library Thief' on the American Library Association's site 'american libraries', which includes this comment: 'Lopresti admitted to American Libraries that he feels frustrated by the lack of response from colleagues to his calls at a panel presentation at the 2007 ALA Annual Conference as well as on map specialists’ discussion lists that libraries missing materials share information with law enforcement.' Lopresti was further quoted expressing the following unfashionable opinion: '"We’ve got 20,000 pages with no identifying marks," he emphasized, adding that he has been urging the Great Falls police to hire a retired map librarian on a temporary basis to sort the recovered pages, "because you actually need somebody who knows the stuff."']

< http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=666322&category=REGIONOTHER&BCCode=&newsdate=2/24/2008&TextPage=1 > 'Treasure-troves at risk. Thefts cost billions as experts work to step up security of artifacts' (Paul Grondahl, in the [Albany] Times-Union, 24 February 2008) - A round-up of security concerns affecting US archives and libraries, prompted by the actions of Daniel Lorello, on the staff of the New York State Archives. 'Millions of valuable historical documents at local historical societies, state libraries and the National Archives are vulnerable to being stolen by insiders and outsiders. The reasons are many: the sheer volume; incomplete inventories; the cost of security; the value of the artifacts amid a growing demand from collectors; and the fact the documents are routinely retrieved by staffers for use by researchers in public reading rooms...'

'The FBI estimates $6 billion is lost annually in crimes against cultural institutions worldwide. Strassberg advocates spending more on security and tougher sentences for the thieves ... Mandatory bag inspections of State Library and Archives employees as they leave work have been discussed over the years, but have not been put in place because of concerns raised by unions and the added cost.' As one librarian pointed out: "We're always trying to balance access and security". [The full text also available via ExLibris.]

Stolen map alert from the British Library, 21 February 2008. "I very much regret to report that we have discovered the theft of 74 maps from ‘Description de l’Univers, contenant les differentes systemes du monde, les cartes ... de la géographie ancienne et moderne ... et les moeurs ... de chaque nation’ by MANESSON MALLET, Alain. (Paris, 1683). This is now the subject of a police investigation with the Arts and Antiques Unit. We do not yet know when the maps were stolen, and as soon as I have more information I will be in touch again." The crime number is 230 4414/08. Any information, please, to: Judith Barnes, Collection Security Co-ordinator, 020 7412 7821. [From Shelf:Life, with further information from PhiloBiblos. Rodney Shirley, Maps in the Atlases of the British Library, describes the work (Vol 1, p.667-), referring for a collation to Pastoureau. The BL example forms part of the Rare Book, rather than Map collection.]

'eBay to buy back stolen historical items' (by Michael Gormley, Associated Press, 9 February 2008) - An important development in connection with the theft of material taken from the New York State Archives by Daniel Lorello. 'Documents dating from the Civil War and others to and from Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt are among hundreds of stolen documents sold online that eBay is agreeing to buy back and return to New York's archives, a state official said Saturday. The online auction giant has no liability in the sale of the stolen artifacts, but agreed voluntarily to offer buyers the amount that they paid, according to the official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because not all details of the investigation have been announced ... The total cost of buying back the documents for which eBay has sales records is estimated at $68,000. The offer by eBay means the state won't have to spend money to buy the records. If there is a conviction, a court could order restitution.' [The full text available via ExLibris.]

'Stolen maps database announcement' (message to MapHist from Joel Kovarsky, 5 February 2008) - 'The International Antiquarian Mapsellers Association (IAMA) is funding the development of a stolen map database. We hope to have a working prototype available by mid-April 2008.' The message explains how the database will function and lists those who have signed up to the idea.

< http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780345494689 > 'The Map Thief', a suspense novel by Heather Terrell, a Pittsburgh lawyer, is due out in July 2008 from Random House. No synopsis as yet.

Since July 2007, Francis Herbert has been carrying out in the British Library Map Library the 'Vulnerable Maps' project, describing in detail antiquarian maps in volumes that are judged to be at greatest risk of theft. Such maps are being identified among the BL's collection with the aid of carto-bibliographies, stamped and scanned, as reported in Cartographiti, the newsletter of the Map Curators' Group of the British Cartographic Society, 80 (Autumn 2007) p.5.

A message to the Maps-L list, 10 January 2008:
"I have some news about map thefts. You may remember that in February 2006 Wilson Library at Western Washington University ... suffered a serious theft. We eventually determined that at least 648 pages were stolen from 102 volumes. Seventy-five percent of them were maps. All but two of the books were from the Congressional Serial Set. [Details were posted to the Maps-L list at the time.]
Since then, we have been working to identify the thief or thieves. In part due to our efforts and those of several people in the map librarian community, on December 12 the Department of Homeland Security (ICE)and Great Falls, Montana police executed a search warrant on the property of James Brubaker, who sold maps, Indian artifacts, and other material on ebay under the handle Montanasilver. To the best of my knowledge, Brubaker has not been arrested, however his ebay store has been closed down and he is no longer a registered user there. I have heard the authorities confiscated thousands of plates and maps, hundreds of books, and many Indian artifacts. I expect we will be hearing more in months to come in the form of federal indictments. When we get a photo of Brubaker we will be glad to distribute it. Rob Lopresti, Government Information Librarian - rob.lopresti(at) wwu.edu". [See also a later comment on the PhiloBiblos blog, 15 January 2008. Further update: 18 January, a photo of James Brubaker is now available.]

< http://wikis.ala.org/acrl/index.php/RBMS_Seminars_in_Development_2008 > 'Security: Bringing It All Back Home: Recovering from a Theft (Seminar 6)' (9 January 2008) - preliminary details of the Preconference in Los Angeles, 24-27 June 2008, to be held by the The Rare Books and Manuscript Section (RBMS) of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), a division of the American Library Association (ALA). This is to include: Michael Inman, Librarian, Rare Books Division, New York Public Library; Topic: 'The Smiley Thefts'.

< http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/01/02/stolen_rare_maps_find_their_way_back_to_librarys_collection/ > 'Stolen rare maps find their way back to library's collection' (by Jenna Russell, 2 January 2008 in the Boston Globe)
'More than 30 rare, antique maps stolen from the Boston Public Library by a Martha's Vineyard map dealer were returned to the library in 2007, library president Bernard Margolis said this week, part of the conclusion of an international scandal that rocked the staid world of map collecting. Not all has been resolved, however. More than 30 other missing maps, losses that have not been linked to confessed map thief E. Forbes Smiley III, have yet to be recovered by the Boston library more than a year after their disappearance was discovered ...

'Margolis said investigators have returned 31 maps that Smiley admitted taking from the Boston library. In addition, Smiley has paid the library $7,000 in restitution for another map he stole that cannot be found, Margolis said. Three other maps have not been located, he said. Curators at the library inventoried their rare maps after the thefts came to light, and discovered 36 more missing maps worth almost $1 million. Two of those maps have since been returned by collectors in Boston and Maryland, Margolis said, and efforts to uncover the others at auctions are ongoing ... The Boston library has spent about $200,000 on improved security and surveillance systems to prevent future thefts, Margolis said. All visitors to the rare-books room now sign in and out. But by necessity, the thefts have left the library a less trusting place.' Also giving details of the three maps still missing from Harvard.

2007

'Chile returns thousands of stolen Peruvian books' (7 November 2007 [noted 15 November]) - 'Chile returned to Peru on Monday 3,788 books, antique texts, and a variety of other artifacts dating back to the 16th century. The items were originally stolen from Lima's National Library and taken to Santiago during the late 19th century War of the Pacific.' The returned items carry the seal of the Peruvian National Library - a stamp of Peru's coat of arms and the inscription "Biblioteca de Lima."' The head of Peru's National Library referred [no detail given] to 'a huge list of atlases and volumes with notes from travelers that came to explore this side of the world'. [The full text also available via ExLibris.]

< http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=81&story_id=45990 > 'New outbreak of map pilfering in ministry library' (15 November 2007) [Copyright EL PAÍS, SL. / J. A. HERNÁNDEZ 2007] - 'The Foreign Ministry says that almost 300 "highly valued" books, some of them more than 400 years old, have been stolen or lost from its library in recent years ... It appears that the thefts have taken place over a number of years. Indeed, a Foreign Ministry spokesman told EL PAÍS this week that such pilfering is almost a tradition at the library ... Among the missing items are several maps from the late 16th century, a number of large-format books, as well as a valuable collection of 18th-century maps of the coastline of northern Europe ... The losses, most from the last four years, were discovered during a recent inventory of the library ... One hypothesis being explored is that a Ministry employee has taken advantage of the poor security in the building to systematically steal books to sell them on the black market.' [The library is open 'only to academics, or specialist researchers'. No mention is made of the coincidence that the four-year theft period suggested here seems to be similar to that for the maps taken from the National Library.] [via Map the Universe; see the full text on ExLibris.]

Rare Books, Crime & Punishment (noted 14 November 2007) - a course being taught at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign by Travis McDade.

'No jail time for woman who stole rare book from Rockland Historical Society' (Steve Lieberman in the New York Journal News, 8 November 2007) - Rebecca Streeter-Chen, who stole an 1823 copy of Tanner's New American Atlas (valued at $60,000) on April 22 from the Rockland Historical Society, was sentenced to community service rather than jail because she has young children. [The full text also available via ExLibris, and for comment see Travis McDades's blog].

Resolution [dated 1 October 2007, seen 24 October] - 'The Rare Books and Manuscript Section (RBMS) and the Map and Geography Roundtable (MAGERT) of the American Library Association mutually commend members of the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America (ABAA), the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB), and the International Antiquarian Mapsellers Association (IAMA) for their cooperation in assisting with the recent recoveries of stolen maps and books removed from library and archival collections. Thanks to the assistance of these organizations and other members of the antiquarian trade, valuable cultural resources have been returned to their home libraries and archives'. Twenty dealers and auction houses are named, in connection with the Smiley thefts and those 'from the University of Texas at Austin by Mimi Meyer'.

< http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=520020 > 'Long Lamont Line Irks Students. Students complain about meticulous searches by new guard; call line ‘absurd’' (Denise J. Xu in the Harvard Crimson, 12 October 2007) - Director of Communications for Harvard College Library (HCL) Beth Brainard explained that 'thefts such as those conducted by map marauder E. Forbes Smiley cause HCL to reevaluate their security procedures. In general, however, she said that "security measures are proactive rather than reactive".'

< http://www.hindu.com/lr/2007/10/07/stories/2007100750050600.htm > 'Dark side of bibliomania' (by Pradeep Sebastian, in The Hindu, 7 October 2007) - a review of Travis McDade’s The Book Thief: The True Crimes of Daniel Spiegelman (Praeger Publishers, 2006). Among Spiegelman's haul were '284 historical maps, 237 individual maps razored out of a 17th century version of Blaeu’s Atlas Major'. Reference is made to the famous judgement by Judge Kaplan: "great research libraries are repositories of our social, cultural, and scientific heritage. Their rare books and manuscripts are vital to understanding the world and often are irreplaceable objects of study for scholars who add to our knowledge of ourselves and our environment." McDade teaches legal research at the College of Law at the University of Illinois, and runs his own blog.

Theft of an atlas with Allard and De Wit maps from a French dealer [7 September]. "Please be advised that on 20 August an atlas was stolen from a private premises in Normandy in France. The atlas contains 48 maps in contemp. colours of all parts of the world by Hugo Allardt and F.de Wit. The atlas has a manuscript index and is bound in contemp. brown calf. A list of the included maps is to be found at < http://www.loeb-larocque.com/ENGstolen_atlas.html >.Please contact us if this atlas will be, or has been offered to you:
Béatrice Loeb-Larocque, Librairie Loeb-Larocque,31 rue de Tolbiac, 75013 Paris France. Tél/FAX +33 (0)1 44.24.85.80" [via Map the Universe]

< http://www.yalealumnimagazine.com/issues/2007_07/maps.html > 'Paper Trail. Close-ups -- and some recent history of Sterling's rare maps' (Kathrin Day Lassila in the Yale Alumni Magazine, July/August 2007 [noted 2 August 2007]) - An account of what has been done in Yale University's Sterling Memorial Library, post-Smiley. What was it like before? 'No lists of its patrons' requests had been kept. Only a quarter of its 11,000 rare and antique maps had been entered into Orbis, Sterling's electronic catalog. The card catalog proved strangely unreliable. So, in late July, as the FBI was pressing libraries everywhere to find out whether they were missing any maps, Bill Reese [the book dealer consultant] came up with a shortcut. "I sat down and I said to myself, ‘If I was Forbes Smiley, what would I steal?'"

Smiley had dealt principally in the rarest and most expensive antique American maps. Reese put together a list of about a hundred likely targets. To find out which of them had once been in the collection but had disappeared, staff assistant Margit Kaye tracked down old acquisitions records, and the staff pored over microfiche of the card catalog as it existed in 1978. All this research was necessary because, disturbingly, the cards for many of the missing maps were themselves missing from the catalog ...

Today, Sterling and its storage space have been renovated. No one sees any of Sterling's rare maps without first signing a form and listing the map requested. Patrons can see only one item at a time, and only while they themselves are under constant surveillance by two video cameras. Two full-time catalogers are now at work in the collection, and the 11,000 rarities are their main charge ...' The longer-term plan is to scan the 11,000 rare maps. [The full text also available via ExLibris.]

< http://www.keepmecurrent.com/Community/story.cfm?storyID=40984 > 'Author: Historical societies vulnerable' (David Harry, 2 August 2007, Bridgton, Maine) - 'William D. Andrews, author of Stealing History, will speak to the Bridgton Historical Society [on 5 August] ... reminding listeners of the importance of protecting the artifacts and documents ... "Societies do not always have the capacity to preserve and protect," said Andrews, who added his inspiration for the novel came from news accounts of thefts from local societies. The conviction of E. Forbes Smiley for stealing millions of dollars worth of maps from libraries is almost as extreme as the premise of Stealing History, but his conviction and the book show the ease of concealing documents that might be quickly sold to collectors and make historical societies inviting targets.'

< http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070723/REPOSITORY/707230302 > 'State libraries must work to thwart thieves' (Editorial in the 'Concord Monitor' [New Hampshire], 23 July 2007) - The example of Forbes Smiley is used to urge libraries to put effort into cataloguing. Otherwise 'the rare maps and prints that can easily be excised from seldom-read books are easy prey for a knowledgeable thief ... Searchable, online catalogs of a library or museum's contents make its easy for honest dealers, other museums, researchers and law enforcement to identify stolen items.'

There was a session on 'Library Security for Maps' during the annual conference of the American Library Association (Washington, D.C., 21-27 June 2007), on which see the report by April Carlucci, reproduced from Cartographiti, and the brief report, 'Library Security for Maps: 2007 Conference Program and Guidelines', by Jenny Marie Johnson, Janet B. Dixon, David A. Cobb, Co-chairs of MAGERT Task Force on Library Security for Cartography Resources, July 2007.

< http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/103-05252007-1352883.html > 'Stolen antique atlas, valued at $65k, recovered in Philadelphia' (Associated Press, 25 May 2007) - an example of the 1823 New American Atlas by Henry Tanner, stolen in April from the Historical Society of Rockland County, was recovered when it was offered for sale in Philadelphia. 'A former employee of the Historical Society was trying to sell the book and is a suspect in the theft'. The original theft was reported (via ExLibris) to the MapHist list. [For a fuller account of the circumstances of the recovery, in which the circulation of details 'from a list of professional rare-book dealers' [ExLibris] was crucial, see 'Stolen 1823 atlas recovered', in The Journal News (26 May 2007) < http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007705260369 >. The full text of which is available via ExLibris; and likewise a follow-up piece on June 1 from The Journal News.]

For earlier references to the Smiley case see The E. Forbes Smiley III map thefts: reports and news stories (later mentions will be found above)

< http://www.wvec.com/news/topstories/stories/wvec_local_051107_mariners.5cc997dc.html > 'Ex-employee accused of selling Mariners' Museum items on eBay' (by Mary Nelson on the WVEC.com (Norfolk, VA) web site, 11 May 2007) - 'A former Mariner's Museum employee and his wife [Lester Weber and Lori Childs] are facing a civil suit for allegedly stealing from the museum, and selling the items on eBay ... He was the chief archivist for six years until last September when he was fired, according to museum management, for policy violations including stealing museum property ... Museum management alleges the couple made 160,000 dollars selling the items on eBay.' As to the items involved, the museum, in Newport News, referred to "historical documents, things like maps, letters, and plans". The charges are denied. [The full text also available via ExLibris.]

'Paper trail that ended chapter on book scam' (by David Eames in the New Zealand Herald, 7 April 2007) - Because the librarian had deleted the electronic catalogue records of the stolen books you might have expected measures to close that loophole. Instead, there is to be 'a security rethink at the university. Rare books may have to have security tags similar to those in clothing stores.' [The full text available via ExLibris.]

< http://www.philly.com/dailynews/local/20070405_Archives_ex-intern_pleads_guilty_to_theft.html > 'Archives ex-intern pleads guilty to theft' (by Michael Hinkelman in the Philadelphia Daily News, 5 April 2007) - Denning McTague, a former intern at the National Archives and Records Administration in Philadelphia, pleaded guilty to stealing rare government documents - most having to do with the Civil War. McTague is described as 'a collector who operates a business that sells rare maps and manuscripts.' McTague stole 164 documents and sold some on eBay. There is no mention of any cartographic material having been taken.

< http://mark.antiquetrader.com/Be+On+Lookout+For+Maps+Stolen+From+Pa+Shop.aspx > 'Be on lookout for maps stolen from Pa. shop' (Mark Moran, 1 March 2007) - 'Approximately 50 antique maps were stolen from Ted L. Canaday Old and Rare Books, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, sometime between Feb. 8-15. The total value of the maps amounted to nearly $20,000.' Among items thought to be unusual was a MS map of early oil territory in Pennsylvania. 'A detailed list of maps will appear in the March 21 issue of Antique Trader' [which has the same address as this blog]. [Update (March 3): the list of stolen maps was posted to the ExLibris list.]

2006

< http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1572378,00.html > 'On the Trail of Pilfered History. Exclusive: The market in stolen historical documents has gotten so hot that federal investigators have launched an operation to retrieve what belongs to the government' (by Douglas Waller in Time.com, 21 December 2006) - a round-up about 'the pilfering of old letters, documents, maps, photographs, books and other historical artifacts', with particular reference to Operation Historic Protector, launched by the Archive's Inspector General's Office in November. Investigators from the National Archives attended the Washington Capital Area Historical Autograph and Manuscript Show on 9 December.

< http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-tocatchathief1211.artdec11,0,395760.story?coll=hc-headlines-local > 'Book Theft Caught On Tape. Toronto Pair Accused Of Stealing Antiques' (by Kim Martineau in the Hartford Courant, 11 December 2006) - a Canadian couple, Nora Thomson (47) and Peter Mason King (48) were arrested in Toronto in October and charged with stealing illustrated rare books and prints worth at least $65,000 from (and to) The Avenue Ltd in Westport, Conn. and D. & E. Lake Ltd in Toronto. 'Lake has posted a list of his missing items on the website of the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America'. The couple were caught because of a newly installed CCTV. Other shops were visited by the couple. No cartographic items are mentioned and their targets seem to have been decorative prints. However, some of those mentioned also deal in maps. [The full text also available via ExLibris].

< http://www.yaledailynews.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=34501 > 'Libraries increase security. Recent thefts of rare maps prompt extensive study of libraries’ security measures' (by Steven Siegel in the Yale Daily News, 30 November 2006) - referring to the security review carried out by Yale in the wake of Forbes Smiley's thefts, leading to likely measures such as more effective CCTV and reduction of the backlog of uncatalogued materials. As pointed out by Alice Prochaska, Yale's Librarian: 'Making thefts known is now considered a good practice and dealers and collectors have a place to look to verify that the items they purchase are not missing from a library's holdings.'

< http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2468609,00.html > 'Thieving library staff take a love of rare books too far' (by Roger Boyes in the [London] Times On-line, 24 November 2006) - a brief round-up of recent book and map thefts, specifically from the University of Erlangen, including some general comments: 'The breakthrough for library thieves came about four years ago when an appropriate chemical mix was discovered that could wipe out library markings without leaving a trace. As most library thefts are inside jobs, there is usually no need for chemistry: it is often enough to steal an ex libris seal documenting that the book has legitimately left the library stock ... The main problem appears to be budget cuts, which have slowed library stocktaking to a snail’s pace.' [The full text also available via ExLibris].

< http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,1864902,00.html > 'Sleight of hand conceals 16th-century book's theft' (a brief note in the [London] Guardian, 5 September 2006): "A 16th-century book has been stolen from an exhibition in a castle in Upper Austria, but the crime went unnoticed for days because the thieves left behind another book, police said yesterday. The 1532 volume, Astronomicum Caesareum, by Petrus Apianus, disappeared from Peuerbach Castle between August 23 and 26, when a guide discovered it had gone. The book, worth about £20,000, was displayed in an exhibition case under an unsecured glass panel. Police suspect the theft happened while the exhibition was open to the public, but video surveillance so far has yielded no clues." For more on a volume (actually of 1540) described by Professor Owen Gingerich as "one of the great masterpieces of sixteenth-century printing", and including celestial charts, see here. [Update: Prof. Gingerich, in a post to ExLibris on 6 September doubted it was the Astronomicum Caesareum that was stolen and suggested instead the same author's much smaller Cosmographia was involved.]

< http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-yalemaps0720.artjul20,0,3506904.story?coll=hc-headlines-local > 'Yale Posts List Of Missing Maps. Getting Word Out May Thwart Efforts To Sell' (by Kim Martineau in the Hartford Courant, 20 July 2006) - Yale's Librarian and map dealers support the former head of the security committee for the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America, Ken Sanders, when he says: "Get the word out to as many people as possible if the goal is to recover the material and apprehend the thief". William Reese notes that "institutions have a moral obligation to publicize theft", and, as a warning to buyers, "anyone shopping in these markets has to be conscious of provenance". As Kim Martineau sums up: "By making its list public, Yale has set a precedent among the libraries that inventoried their collections after Forbes Smiley's arrest. If other libraries follow, it could bring about a sea change in how maps are bought and sold, as dealers and collectors start to insist on proof of clear title". The inventory of Yale's Sterling Memorial Library revealed 'between 90 and 95 maps' as missing. Some are of Japan or Russia, and others of modest value. However, the article itemises seven maps of which Smiley is known to have handled examples. His lawyer describes that as 'coincidence' and Yale is said not to suspect Smiley of their theft. [The full text also available via ExLibris].

'Maps Identified as Missing from the Map Collection in the Sterling Memorial Library, Yale University. As of July 19, 2006' (a list of missing maps not apparently taken by Forber Smiley)

'Oxford globe stolen' (a miniature Richard Cushee globe, 1731, was stolen from the Museum of the History of Science on 7 May 2006).

< http://books.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1746542,00.html > 'Stealing beats borrowing. Selfishness is trumping sharing as £150m worth of books are filched from local libraries every year' (Rose George in the Guardian (London), 4 April 2006)

WWU Collection Vandalized (a report, in The Map Room weblog [13 March 2006], about developments relating to the razoring out of government documents, including maps from annual reports of the Department of the Interior, from Western Washington University. Details of the missing items have been posted to the Maps-L list

2005 (and earlier)

'Theft Alert' (from ARLIS (Art Libraries Society Discussion List, 21 December 2005) - details, including link to a police photograph, of someone suspected of tearing out maps in the Bowdoin College Library, Brunswick, Maine. These were mostly 'turn-of-the-century government documents, depicting National Parks and other American territories')

< http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/13380793.htm > 'Libraries tightening security as thefts rise. Challenge is to balance preservation, access' (Beth Musgrave and Linda Blackford in Lexington Herald-Leader, 11 December 2005). [Text also available via ExLibris].

Map thefts and a numismatic connection (Wayne Homren in The E-Sylum, 8:36 (21 August 2005 - Article 15) - with excerpts from Miles Harvey's The Island of Lost Maps about the career of Charles Lynn Glaser, whose career as a map thief spanned at least 1974-92)

'Thefts' by Paolo Buonora - descriptions and scans of 17 hand-drawn sheets, missing since autumn 2004 from the State Archive of Rome, part of the Catasto Alessandrino (message to the MapHist list, 14 March 2005)

'Thief jailed for cutting maps from library's rare books' (Richard Savill in New Telegraph, 23 December 2004)

'Jail for historic maps thief. Former gardener won confidence of staff by handing in 'lost' £50' (Steven Morris in The Guardian, 23 December 2004)

<http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/story.jsp?story=595633 > 'Thief who plundered libraries for rare maps is sent to jail' (Jason Bennetto, in The Independent Online Edition, 23 December 2004)

'Internet alert exposed map thief. Map thief Peter Bellwood left a trail of "razored" antique books in museums across Europe' (BBC News, 22 December 2004)

'£70,000 rare map thief is jailed. A man who stole dozens of antique maps from the National Library of Wales has been jailed for four-and-a-half years' (BBC News, 22 December 2004 - with a video link to the Copenhagen CCTV)

< http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3601320'Library > Thief Admits Stealing Dozens of Antique Maps' (Antony Stone, PA News in The Scotsman, 8 October 2004 - on Peter Bellwood's map thefts from the National Library of Wales)

'Lost Worlds' (about Melvin Perry and Peter Bellwood - Mark Honigsbaum in the [London] Observer (OM Magazine) 20 July 2003)

'More on Argentina map thefts' (relaying an article, in Spanish, from the Rio de Janeiro 'La Nacion' newspaper, 7 July 2003, about thefts, including maps, from the Biblioteca Nacional of Argentina)

'The world in his hands: Britain's most wanted art thief who steals maps to order' ('"Ripper" who snatches rare prints from top libraries across Europe on the run' (Steven Morris in The [London] Guardian, 19 May 2003)

'Internet foils old map thieves' (about a theft of maps and books on 16-17 October 2002 from Kaabers Antikvariat, Copenhagen - ILAB/LILA)

'Track the Ripper' (Michael A. Gips, in Security Management, August 2002)

< http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=296266 > 'Rip and run' raiders carve up the masterpieces of cartography for global trade in stolen maps" (Independent newspaper [London], 18 May 2002, by Cahal Milmo)

'Letter from the Editor' (about map thefts, by Ashley Baynton-Williams, MapForum 15 [April 2002])

'Maps stolen from the University Library of Helsinki, Finland', Journal of the International Map Collectors' Society, 85 (Summer 2001), p.61 (listing the six maps)

[for more on this, see European map thefts]

'Antiquarian maps: wave of thefts', Library Association Record, 103:7 (July 2001), p.388

'Britain leads illicit trade in rare books' (Jason Burke, Observer, 10 June 2001)

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Biblioteca nacional, Madrid (2007-2008)

< http://news.theage.com.au/australia-returns-rare-1482-map-to-spain/20080204-1q0h.html > 'Australia returns rare 1482 map to Spain' (The [Melbourne] Age, 4 February 2008) - about the Ulm Ptolemy world map being returned today to Spain. 'Twelve of the 16 stolen maps have been recovered but the whereabouts of the remaining four are unknown.'

< http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/04/2154153.htm > 'Rare stolen map returned to Spain' (by Simon Santow, [Australian] ABC News, 4 February 2008). An interview with National Library of Australia map curator Dr Martin Woods.

< http://www.thinkspain.com/news-spain/13657/stolen-map-featured-on-national-library-christmas-cards > 'Stolen map featured on National Library Christmas cards' (ThinkSpain, seen 23 December 2007). 'The National Library has chosen one of the two 15th century world maps by Ptolemy whose robbery came to light last August for their Christmas cards this year. The image used is of a map that has been tracked down by Interpol at the home of a private collector in Sydney, but which remains in Australia. The second map was returned to the library last month along with nine of the sixteen other items stolen by 60 year old César Gómez Rivero, who is a Spanish citizen of Uruguyan origin, currently living in Argentina. Inside the Christmas cards is printed the following quotation by Petrach 'The many books which made some wise and some mad'. Among measures being implemented to prevent further priceless works from going missing from the library will be a full audit of the more than 25 million books included in its collection that will take place between the 14-19th January. New library director, Milagros del Corral, has pointed out that this will be the first audit for more than twenty years, and warns that further surprises "cannot be ruled out."

It now appears (15 November) that of the 15 (or 19) maps known to have been taken, eight were handed in by the presumed thief; two (a 1482 Ulm Ptolemy world map, and what sounds like the 1507 Ruysch map) were recovered in New York and have also been returned; and another example of the Ulm Ptolemy is due to be sent back from Australia. That leaves at least four unaccounted for .

Articles (12 & 13 November 2007) from El Mundo, in Spanish, reproduced in full via ExLibris: 'El ladron dice estar arrepentido. Rubalcaba revela que cinco paginas robadas en la Biblioteca Nacional siguen desaparecidas' < http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2007/11/12/cultura/1194858384.html >; and 'Cesar Antonio Molina en TVE. En la Biblioteca no se hace inventario desde 1988 y sí en cualquier ultramarinos' < http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2007/11/13/cultura/1194955194.html >

< http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/12/europe/EU-GEN-Spain-Stolen-Maps.php > 'Rare maps stolen from Spain's National Library returned after police action on 3 continents' (Associated Press, 12 November 2007) - 'The new director, Milagros del Corral, said a major audit would take place at the former royal library, founded in 1712, in January. "I can't discount that we'll find more unpleasant surprises," Del Corral said at a news conference. The last audit took place in 1988, Del Corral said.'

'Tesoros Nacionales. FBI Returns Stolen Maps to Spain' - from the FBI site (8 November), along with a press release of the same date.

< http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article2708751.ece > 'Library map thief gives himself up' (Thomas Catan, in Times Online, 22 October 2007) - 'César Gómez Rivero, a Uruguayan-born Spanish citizen who is said to have lived in Buenos Aires for several decades, sent his lawyer to negotiate an immunity deal with an Argentine judge last week in exchange for handing over eight of the maps. "He is full of remorse because he involved people he knew and abused their confidence," Fernando Soto, his lawyer, said. The judge refused the deal, placing the maps in his vault but releasing Mr Gómez on bail. Spanish authorities are seeking his extradition to stand trial in Madrid, where penalties for the theft of historical items are much stiffer. Acting on requests from Spanish police, the FBI has retrieved another map from Richard Lan {Martayan Lan}, a dealer in New York, who had sold it to a private client. Australian police have recovered another from Simon Dewez, a dealer in Sydney, who bought it in America. Both men insist that they bought the maps in good faith.'

< http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/precious-stolen-map-turns-up-in-sydney/2007/10/19/1192301045420.html > 'Precious stolen map turns up in Sydney' (Philip Cornford, in the Sydney Morning Herald, 20 October 2007) - about the 1482 Ulm Ptolemy world map, purchased 'on the internet by Simon Dewez, owner of the Gowrie Galleries in Bondi Junction ... Mr Dewez declined to name the dealer from whom he bought the map but described him as a reputable dealer who had refunded him.'

< http://noticias.notiemail.com/noticia.asp?nt=11566257&cty=200 > 'The odyssey of the rare maps stolen from Spain' (Notiemail, 18 October 2007) - 'A team of experts from the National Library headed by the institution's director, Milagros del Corral, plans to travel Friday to Buenos Aires to examine the maps surrendered by Gomez Rivero, a 60-year-old Uruguayan-born Spaniard now living in Argentina.'

Full text (via ExLibris) of an article by Hernán Cappiello (18 October), 'Los incunables de la Biblioteca Nacional de Madrid' in the Buenos Aires 'La Nacion' - < http://www.lanacion.com.ar/cultura/nota.asp?nota_id=954198 >

< http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=81&story_id=45067 > 'Stolen maps by Ptolemy found in Argentina' (18 October 2007 - from Expatica), including the statement: 'Argentine police have located the suspect but have not arrested him since they have not received a request from Spain.'

< http://www.elpais.com/articulo/cultura/Recuperados/Argentina/mapamundis/siglo/XV/robados/Biblioteca/Nacional/elpepucul/ 20071017elpepucul_4/Tes > 'Recuperados en Argentina ocho mapamundis del siglo XV robados de la Biblioteca Nacional' (17 October 2007) - still more from El Pais about the Madrid thefts. As before, the details are far from clear. It is here reported that the lawyer acting for the presumed thief, César Ovilio Gómez Rivero, has offered to return eight of the 19 missing documents, but on condition that his client is not arrested. The Argentine judge refused this offer and the suspect is still being sought. For some reason, there is still no clarification about the status of the maps located in Sydney and New York. [See comments forwarded by Carla Lois on 18 October to the MapHist list about coverage in the Argentine papers; and a report from PhiloBiblos on 17 October linking to reports which claimed the suspect had been arrested.]

< http://www.elpais.com/articulo/cultura/Confiscado/Australia/mapas/robados/Biblioteca/elpepucul/20071012elpepicul_5/Tes > 'Confiscado en Australia uno de los mapas robados en la Biblioteca' (12 October 2007) - another article from the Madrid paper El Pais. The Gowrie Galleries in Sydney are named as the map dealers from whom one of the Ptolemy world maps has been confiscated, though it has not yet been confirmed that the map one of those stolen from Madrid. The named suspect has not yet been detained. [The full text also available via ExLibris.]

< http://www.elpais.com/articulo/cultura/FBI/rescata/Nueva/York/mapa/robado/Biblioteca/Nacional/elpepucul/20071009elpepicul_2/Tes > 'El FBI rescata en Nueva York un mapa robado en la Biblioteca Nacional. El autor de las sustracciones se apoderó de 12 páginas que contienen 19 valiosos grabados ' (by Jesús Duva, in El Pais 9 October 2007) - the Spanish text refers to another of the missing maps being sequestered from a collector in New York, the Ruysch world map from the 1508 edition of Ptolemy (with call number R-020753). It, or another example of the map, is illustrated in the article. In all, 12 leaves containing 19 early maps are known to have been removed between 2004 and August 2007 from the Biblioteca Nacional in Madrid. Investigations continue to establish whether the map in Sydney, which supposedly came via London, is one of the stolen items. [The full text also available via ExLibris.] For earlier articles in El Pais on this case, see: 'La Guardia Civil afirma que aún no ha localizado los mapamundis' (6 October) < http://www.elpais.com/articulo/cultura/Guardia/Civil/afirma/ha/localizado/mapamundis/elpepucul/20071006elpepicul >; and 'Identificado el ladrón de los mapas de la Biblioteca Nacional' (5 October) < http://www.elpais.com/articulo/cultura/Identificado/ladron/mapas/Biblioteca/Nacional/elpepucul/20071005elpepicul >.

< http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2007/10/05/cultura/1191538441.html > 'Identificado el autor del robo de dos mapamundis en la Biblioteca Nacional'; and < http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2007/10/05/cultura/1191555689.html > 'Descubiertos en Australia los mapas incunables robados de la Biblioteca Nacional' - two further articles in Spanish (both dated 5 October 2007) from El Mundo about the Madrid theft of the two Ptolemy world maps. These identify the thief by name and report that the maps have been traced to a dealer in Sydney, Australia.

More on the Madrid Ptolemy thefts (see entry below), in an article, 'Library head resigns after rare maps stolen', on September 1 by Thomas Catán in the Times Online. < http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article2364259.ece >
'The head of the library, the writer Rosa Regàs, quit her post this week after it emerged that two valuable world maps from its rare 1482 editions of Ptolemy’s Cosmographia had disappeared from the Cervantes Hall. Police who searched the hall, which is restricted to professional researchers, found pages torn from four other books, dating from the 16th and 17th centuries.' The maps have been valued at $100,000 each. 'Ms Regàs told reporters that police had asked the library not to divulge information about the losses for fear of hurting the investigation, before volunteering that they had identified the culprit. All the evidence pointed to an Argentinian researcher, she said, who was authorised by the Spanish Ambassador in Argentina and had already fled. The Spanish Ambassador promptly denied the accusation. Experts said that whoever took the maps was not an amateur opportunist ... Library authorities said they noticed that the maps had gone missing during a routine stock check on August 23 but did not know when they were taken. Library officials said that the thief had managed to cheat security measures that were installed in the mid1990s, thought to include CCTV cameras. Ms Regàs said that she had been made a scapegoat for the loss, adding that other libraries around the world had suffered similar thefts. The National Library has been hit by thieves before. In 1988 police recovered 200 stolen books, dating from the 16th and 18th centuries, from a collector’s house.' See also the account in the [London] Independent by Graham Keeley, 31 August, 'Spanish library in turmoil over stolen maps', including the comment that 'the embarrassment of the thefts in a library with a supposedly hi-tech security system led deputies in the Spanish Congress to ask questions about the whole affair' < http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2914407.ece >.

A posting (24 August 2007) to the ExLibris list announces that the Biblioteca Nacional in Madrid has had two world maps taken from separate copies of the 1482 Ptolemy Cosmographia. This referred to a report, 'Roban dos mapamundis de sendos incunables de 1482 en la Biblioteca Nacional', on El Mundo, which described earlier thefts from the library in 1981 and 1988 < http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2007/08/24/cultura/1187979891.html >.

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Books, articles, etc.

Library Security for Maps. Report on the program sponsored by the Map and Geography Round Table (MAGERT) of the American Library Association, held in Washington DC on Sunday 24 June 2007, by April Carlucci (the summaries of the four presentations include the surprising remark by Chris Schmeisser (Assistant US Attorney General and prosecutor in the Forbes Smiley case) that 'Federal officials asked Smiley what he would do to improve security for maps in libraries,' and he told them.

'Keeping it safe, keeping it available: theft prevention in special collections' (with particular reference to maps; by Joel Kovarsky in Library Student Journal, 2007, 23 July 2007 - University of Buffalo, Department of Library and Information Studies)

For links to lists of missing maps issued by the Sterling Library (Yale), Harvard, Beinecke Library (Yale), New York Public Library, British Library, and Boston Public Library, with my comments, see The E. Forbes Smiley III map thefts: reports and news stories (under 19 July, 1 August, 28 September, 3 October, 9 October and 14 November 2006 respectively). These can also be picked up from the bulleted library list at the top of that page

Travis McDade's The Book Thief: The True Crimes of Daniel Spiegelman is being published in October 2006 by Praeger. See their description, which does not mention that Spielgelman is thought to have stolen more than 250 maps (as related by Miles Harvey, The Island of Lost Maps, p.166). The case was celebrated because of Judge Kaplan's decision to base his sentence on the potential harm inflicted on society as a whole by the theft of "rare and unique elements of our cultural heritage." The implications for the Forbes Smiley case are clear [sentencing is due 21 & 22 September]. [Via the Map Room blog.]. Since November 2006, Travis McDade has been maintaining a blog. [For a review, see above under 'News Stories', 7 October 2007]

"Does That Document Belong in the [US] National Archives?" - a free colour brochure that may be obtained by writing to Public Affairs, NARA, 700 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington, DC, 20408-0001, or by calling 202-357-5300. [Via ExLibris, 9 March 2006].

'What can the International Map Collectors' Society do to deter map thieves?' (a message from the IMCoS President, Roger Baskes, originally published, in the wake of the Forbes Smiley affair, in the Journal of the International Map Collectors' Society 103 (Winter 2005), pp.3-4 - posted to the web 25 February 2006)

'Rogues Gallery: an investigation into art theft...and the Curator did it' (a disturbing piece about 'insider theft', including some references to maps - a 12-page pdf presentation, with separate file of illustrations, by Ton Cremers, Museums Security Network, November 2005 - given at an AXA Art Conference in London in October 2005)

'Critical GIS: Does a Conspiracy of Silence Aid Map Theft?' (by Jeremy W. Crampton in GeoWorld, 13 October 2005. NB free registration required)
'Can One Man Make a Difference?: An Analysis of the Effects of the Crimes of Gilbert Bland on Rare Book and Special Collection Security Measures and a Review of the Evolution of Recommended Security Guidelines' (36-page Master’s Paper by Alison M. Foley, School of Information and Library Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, April 2005)

'"A Learned Congress": A Closer Look at Book and Manuscript Thieves' (103-page Master’s Paper by Margarite Annette Nathe, School of Information and Library Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, April 2005)

'The secret inside your library's atlases: Reexamine your collection and how to protect it - before someone else does', American Libraries, October 2003, pp.49-51 (by Kathleen Weessies, Map Librarian at Michigan State, East Lansing)

'Early map thefts: why the injured libraries are themselves a large part of the problem'; Tony Campbell in The Cartographic Journal, 39, 2 (December 2002), pp.167-70 [closely related to: How should we respond to early map thefts?]

Miles Harvey, The Island of Lost Maps (Random House, 2000) [about the Gilbert Bland affair - the author's website has removed the earlier comments on the book but retains review snippets; see also a review on the Paper Frigate blog, 2 March 2005]

'The saying and the doing: the literature and reality of theft prevention measures in U.S. Archives - Part 1'; 'The saying and the doing - Part 2: the real world and the future'; Abigail Leab Martin in Library & Archival Security 15:2 (2000), 27-76, 16:1 (2000), 7-46

Mr. Bland's Evil Plot to Control the World; Miles Harvey in Outside magazine, June 1997

'Cut and run: cartographic thievery' (F J Manasek in Mercator's World 1:2, 1996)

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For news about the Forbes Smiley case (2005-) see Reports and news stories