Book Thieves

Thwarting Book Thieves

Megan Cattrell | September 16, 2015

In February 2014, Russell Graves walked into collectibles dealer Maritime International with a treasure to peddle: 75 Civil War–era photographs and 50 original World War I– and World War II–era posters. It was a collection the owner normally would have been interested in buying, but the items seemed familiar.

A few of the 75 Civil War–era photographs that were taken from Bangor (Maine) Public Library and later recovered. These images, along with 50 original World War I– and World War II–era posters that were stolen, had an estimated value of $31,000. The image of the officer leaning over his chair (center) helped identify the set as belonging to the library. Source: http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2015/09/16/thwarting-book-thieves/

<more at http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2015/09/16/thwarting-book-thieves/; related links: http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2014/01/the-peculiar-underworld-of-rare-book-thieves.html (The Peculiar Underworld of Rare-Book Thieves. January 22, 2014) and http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2015/07/rare-books (Foiling the thieves. July 2, 2015)>