[CPProt.net] Rare and valuable maps have been stolen from the British Library in what trade insiders fear is part of a global operation.

Tue Sep 13 04:11:01 CEST 2005

Global link in theft of rare maps from British Library 
By Louise Jury, Arts Correspondent
Published: 13 September 2005

Rare and valuable maps have been stolen from the British Library in what
trade insiders fear is part of a global operation.

Three maps dating from the 16th and early 17th centuries have been taken.
Similar thefts have been discovered at a host of institutions in America,
including public libraries in New York and Boston, and Yale University
library.

The FBI has requested that all institutions holding rare maps review their
collections as soon as possible.

Two of the three maps missing from the British Library, from which no books
or manuscripts are allowed to be removed, were of North America--a subject
area of particular interest and value to collectors. An untitled oval map
was cut from A True Discourse of the Late Voyages ... of Martin Frobisher by
G Best dating from 1578. Sir Martin Frobisher was an English mariner whose
expeditions to the New World included the first attempt by an Englishman to
find the Northwest Passage.

Another untitled map of New England and Canada was taken from An
Encouragement to Colonies, a book written by a Scottish nobleman, Sir
William Alexander, in 1624 to invite adventurers to colonise Nova Scotia,
which he had been given by James VI. The third was a world map dating from
1520 by Peter Apian, a German mathematician and cartographer, cut from the
book Ioannis Camertis Minoritani. They are likely to be worth tens of
thousands of pounds.

Jonathan Potter, one of London's leading dealers, said: "They have been
targeted by somebody who is aware of their rarity and aware of the demand
for them. There are other equally rare maps [in the British Library] but in
less interesting areas. It's not random at all." The maps were taken in
March and June but details are only now being made public.

Mr Potter said it was very difficult for traders to identify stolen maps
unless they were alerted to thefts - and sometimes the institutions
themselves were unaware that items were missing. They were not so rare as to
be obviously suspicious without a warning. "The British Library did alert
the trade, though a little bit later than the trade would have liked," Mr
Potter said.

The Metropolitan Police would not discuss the British Library thefts because
investigations were continuing. But a spokeswoman said of the thefts from
Yale: "We are working closely with the Americans to assist their
investigation and recover stolen maps that are currently located in the UK."

The British Library houses more than four million maps, dating from the 10th
century - the second largest map collection in the world. As well as printed
maps the library also holds large numbers of hand-drawn, manuscript maps.
Rare maps of North America are a feature of the collection.

Potential weaknesses in the library's security system were highlighted in
1996, when Melvin Perry, 49, a petty thief from Essex who became one of
Europe's foremost map thieves, was convicted of stealing coloured plates
from texts. The conviction prompted experts to raise concerns about funding
for the security of European libraries.

Last year Peter Bellwood, a gambling addict with debts, was jailed for four
and a half years for stealing at least 50 rare maps from the National
Library of Wales in Aberystwyth and selling them for £70,000. Last month, a
US dealer, Forbes Smiley, 49, was arrested at Yale University and charged
with stealing maps worth more than $300,000 (£165,0000).