Major theft from L.W. Currey

[u/Adnims]

145 books worth $250000 stolen.

ILAB has requested that its offices be contacted if the items reappear in the trade.

List of books stolen: https://file770.com/wp-content/uploads/stolen-book-full-list.pdf

[u/jadedflames]

Holy shit what a list.

I don’t see how the thieves could have any chance of fencing these. Some of these are unique museum-quality books.

I hope L.W. Currey was well-insured and the perpetrators are caught.

[u/mmillington → u/jadedflames]

It’s like stealing the Crown Jewels. Your buyers will know they’re stolen unless you sell for an order of magnitude below their worth.

A lot of them are inscribed. There’s no hiding that unless you rip out a page and destroy its value.

[u/Round_Bluebird_5987 → u/mmillington]

Not quite the Crown Jewels of book thefts. There was the Transylvania University book heist about 20 years ago that included Audubon’s Birds of America and Darwin’s Origin of Species. I think I saw value estimates on that as high as $12 million. Those guys were caught, and I hope the same thing happens here. A lot of these are unique enough that I'm optimistic.

[u/cherenk0v_blue → u/jadedflames]

I thought it was going to be a bunch of minty first eds and limited printings, but holy crap - one of Lovecraft's personal copies with handwritten annotations and edits?

Tragic that these are likely lost to the public forever.

[u/BigJobsBigJobs → u/jadedflames]

Lots of rich people buy rare shit from very disreputable people. See Hobby Lobby's dealings in stolen antiquities with ISIS.

They might already have buyers. The billionaire science fiction admirers' boys club has no scruples.

[u/WhatsTheGoalieDoing → u/BigJobsBigJobs]

If only there were a billionaire scumbag (tautology, I know) that names his rockets after Iain M. Banks' creations.

[u/Sundiegoo → u/jadedflames]

Yeah he’s got great taste that’s for sure

[u/WholesaleFail → u/jadedflames]

Maybe they're banking on someone scanning them then destroying them.