3 ms·

The Anatomy of a Crime Discovery After 25 Years: A Case of Book Theft (2007)

25 points by tokai 10y ago

JoeAltmaier 10y ago
There's a real need to be able to 'fingerprint' a rare book, either through photographs of identifying pages (which could be removed or defaced rendering it useless), or even an x-ray of the book.
- MOARDONGZPLZ 10y ago
  Sounds like they're well on their way. An excerpt: You might ask in what way do the libraries mark or describe their precious material so that a second part, for example an auction house, has a possibility to identify rare books originating from a library? Up to now the only public registers of library books have been the library catalogues. The purpose of a library catalogue is firstly to register which books or other documents the library has in its possession and secondly to make those documents accessible. This means that the descriptions of the books in library catalogues are very often very modest. Many library catalogues are simply short title catalogues which in a practical manner make it possible to verify and locate the books on the shelves. On the other hand, an auction catalogue does not normally reveal traces which could connect a particular copy of a book with a certain library. The intention behind auction catalogues is to promote a sale and this means that the characteristics mentioned are designed to make a particular book attractive for a collector or an investigator, which is the reason why those aspects of the history of the volume which deal with rarity or value are very often emphasized. An owner mark or a certain name or a stamp which could mean a lot for a librarian with respect to the provenance of the book would often not be mentioned or only described in lapidary style: unidentified name, or provenance: “From a gentleman’s property.” This makes it quite difficult for a library to identify a particular missing book as that particular copy which has been stolen from the library. In searching for stolen books details of author, title etc. are not particularly useful for the police. When you report to a police officer the theft of a rare book, his first question will be: What does it look like? What should we look for? In such cases the librarian will most likely not be able to give any sensible answer. The solving of the thefts from the seventies and the new digital technology made it possible for us to create a new instrument, Royal Identification Marks. It is a picture gallery of characteristic bindings, stamps, owner-marks and shelf marks in the Royal Library which makes it possible to link a particular book with the library. And Royal Identification Marks: http://wayback-01.kb.dk/wayback/20101103150800/http://www2.kb.dk/kb/missingbooks//marks/index.htm http://wayback-01.kb.dk/wayback/20101103150800/http://www2.k...
  - JoeAltmaier 10y ago
    Yes but this may result in stolen books being entirely defaced (bindings removed; plates removed) by thieves even if they sell for a lesser value. Its already common to remove pages from illustrated encyclopedias and sell the plates individually in antique shops, destroying the book entirely.
- PhantomGremlin 10y ago
  Maybe just do something destructive. Just take a Sharpie permanent marker and write "ROYAL LIBRARY" on the bottom plane of the book pages. Granted, that's a flippant proposal. And it wouldn't work on certain books, where the edges of the pages are gilded. (I wonder if many/most books from those days had gilded edges?) The Sharpie is just one idea. I'm sure there are much more clever, simple, obvious permanent methods that could be used in appropriate circumstances. The main point is to permanently and clearly mark the entire book. Yes I know this would destroy the "value" of the book in many people's eyes. But I'd like to ask the Royal Library this question: Would you rather have in your possession the Louvain edition of Thomas More's Utopia, with "ROYAL LIBRARY" written in Sharpie on the bottom, or would you rather that the book had been sold at Christie's for 140,000 GBP, and you have nothing? I know which I would choose. But I'm not an art historian.
  - JoeAltmaier 10y ago
    Maybe an ultraviolet sharpie? That could be practical.

25 points by tokai 10y ago

There's a real need to be able to 'fingerprint' a rare book, either through photographs of identifying pages (which could be removed or defaced rendering it useless), or even an x-ray of the book.

MOARDONGZPLZ 10y ago
Sounds like they're well on their way. An excerpt: You might ask in what way do the libraries mark or describe their precious material so that a second part, for example an auction house, has a possibility to identify rare books originating from a library? Up to now the only public registers of library books have been the library catalogues. The purpose of a library catalogue is firstly to register which books or other documents the library has in its possession and secondly to make those documents accessible. This means that the descriptions of the books in library catalogues are very often very modest. Many library catalogues are simply short title catalogues which in a practical manner make it possible to verify and locate the books on the shelves. On the other hand, an auction catalogue does not normally reveal traces which could connect a particular copy of a book with a certain library. The intention behind auction catalogues is to promote a sale and this means that the characteristics mentioned are designed to make a particular book attractive for a collector or an investigator, which is the reason why those aspects of the history of the volume which deal with rarity or value are very often emphasized. An owner mark or a certain name or a stamp which could mean a lot for a librarian with respect to the provenance of the book would often not be mentioned or only described in lapidary style: unidentified name, or provenance: “From a gentleman’s property.” This makes it quite difficult for a library to identify a particular missing book as that particular copy which has been stolen from the library. In searching for stolen books details of author, title etc. are not particularly useful for the police. When you report to a police officer the theft of a rare book, his first question will be: What does it look like? What should we look for? In such cases the librarian will most likely not be able to give any sensible answer. The solving of the thefts from the seventies and the new digital technology made it possible for us to create a new instrument, Royal Identification Marks. It is a picture gallery of characteristic bindings, stamps, owner-marks and shelf marks in the Royal Library which makes it possible to link a particular book with the library. And Royal Identification Marks: http://wayback-01.kb.dk/wayback/20101103150800/http://www2.kb.dk/kb/missingbooks//marks/index.htm http://wayback-01.kb.dk/wayback/20101103150800/http://www2.k...
- JoeAltmaier 10y ago
  Yes but this may result in stolen books being entirely defaced (bindings removed; plates removed) by thieves even if they sell for a lesser value. Its already common to remove pages from illustrated encyclopedias and sell the plates individually in antique shops, destroying the book entirely.
PhantomGremlin 10y ago
Maybe just do something destructive. Just take a Sharpie permanent marker and write "ROYAL LIBRARY" on the bottom plane of the book pages. Granted, that's a flippant proposal. And it wouldn't work on certain books, where the edges of the pages are gilded. (I wonder if many/most books from those days had gilded edges?) The Sharpie is just one idea. I'm sure there are much more clever, simple, obvious permanent methods that could be used in appropriate circumstances. The main point is to permanently and clearly mark the entire book. Yes I know this would destroy the "value" of the book in many people's eyes. But I'd like to ask the Royal Library this question: Would you rather have in your possession the Louvain edition of Thomas More's Utopia, with "ROYAL LIBRARY" written in Sharpie on the bottom, or would you rather that the book had been sold at Christie's for 140,000 GBP, and you have nothing? I know which I would choose. But I'm not an art historian.
- JoeAltmaier 10y ago
  Maybe an ultraviolet sharpie? That could be practical.