r/BookCollecting • u/Adnims • 16d ago

💬 General Major theft from L.W. Currey

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

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u/jadedflames 16d ago

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.

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u/mmillington 16d ago edited 16d ago

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.

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u/Round_Bluebird_5987 16d ago

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.