Map Thefts

Forbes Smiley on the Silver Screen
Actor Fred Melamed is working on a movie about Forbes Smiley, according to an interview in New York magazine: I’m writing a screenplay now, which I’m trying to direct, and it’s about a man who was a well-known map expert, who was famous for having discovered certain maps, and he…   Read more →
Posted on Friday, February 12, 2010 at 8:10 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
Mumbai Maps Missing
Maps dating back to the early 1800s have been disappearing from the vaults of the Asiatic Society of Mumbai, The Times of India reports: Almost nothing remains of the entire set of maps that date back to 1803-04: they depict the expanse of Mumbai (then Bombay) in great detail when…   Read more →
Posted on Sunday, January 24, 2010 at 11:56 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
Forbes Smiley Reportedly Released
There are reports that Forbes Smiley, who was sentenced to 3½ years in prison in September 2006 after admitting having stolen nearly 100 maps from various libraries, was released from prison on Friday: Geolounge, Philobiblos. Smiley, you may recall, was apprehended in July 2005 trying to take maps from Yale’s…   Read more →
Posted on Sunday, January 17, 2010 at 6:15 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
Map Thief Sentenced in the Czech Republic
Piotr Stanisław Peron, a 47-year-old Pole with Canadian residency, was sentenced yesterday to five years in prison by a Czech court for stealing two 16th-century maps from an Olomouc library, the České Noviny reports. Peron was also expelled from the Czech Republic for eight years and ordered to pay 1.2…   Read more →
Posted on Thursday, August 20, 2009 at 8:40 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
Map Thief Apprehended in Spain
News of another case of map theft from Spain: an unnamed 47-year-old Hungarian national has been detained in the midst of what appears to be a robbery tour of map collections in Spain, Portugal, France and Italy. Nearly 70 stolen maps and documents were recovered from his hotel room. The…   Read more →
Posted on Saturday, August 15, 2009 at 7:30 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
Hakimzadeh’s Sentence Cut in Half
Farhad Hakimzadeh, who pled guilty to stealing maps, illustrations and other pages from rare books in the British and Oxford University libraries and was sentenced to two years in prison for it, has had his sentenced cut in half by the Appeal Court. He’ll be out in less than three…   Read more →
Posted on Thursday, April 30, 2009 at 8:07 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
Map Theft ‘All Too Easy’
ARCAblog, the blog of the Association for Research into Crimes Against Art, has a translation of a year-old Spanish news article (the original is here) about map thefts; the article mentions the notorious cases of Cesar Gomez Rivero and Forbes Smiley, but also engages in a discussion of a very…   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, March 17, 2009 at 10:04 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
The Financial Times on ‘Gentlemen Thieves’
The Financial Times article, What drives people to steal precious books, does not spend much time answering the question posed by its title; the article, which references recent map thieves, does talk about how people steal precious books (and maps), as well as the impact on library security. There’s also…   Read more →
Posted on Sunday, March 8, 2009 at 9:51 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
Lethal Legacy: Map Theft Crime Novel
Crime novelist Linda Fairstein’s latest book, Lethal Legacy, has a distressingly familiar plotline. From, believe it or not, The Courier Mail of Brisbane, Australia: “[Series protagonist Alex] Cooper and regular police associate Mike Chapman delve into the shady world of rich collectors and library conservation as Fairstein explores how…   Read more →
Posted on Saturday, February 7, 2009 at 3:14 PM
Categories: Books, Fiction About Maps, Map Thefts
‘A Notorious Gentleman Thief’
Map thefts are a part of a greater whole: the theft of antiquarian books. The Guardian profiles a book thief who has managed to elude capture, William Simon Jacques, “one of a handful of highly intelligent, well-educated criminals who operate in the somewhat murky world of international antiquarian book traders,…   Read more →
Posted on Monday, February 2, 2009 at 6:54 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
Hakimzadeh Sentenced to Two Years
An update on this story: Farhad Hakimzadeh has been sentenced to two years in prison; he had pleaded guilty to 14 counts of theft for taking maps, illustrations and other pages from rare books in the British and Oxford University libraries, often to improve the editions he already owned. Via…   Read more →
Posted on Saturday, January 17, 2009 at 6:45 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
The Case of Farhad Hakimzadeh
Last month, an Iranian-born businessman pleaded guilty to 14 counts for the theft of maps, illustrations and other pages from rare books in the British and Oxford University libraries. Farhad Hakimzadeh, 60, is believed to have taken pages from 150 books between 1997 and 2005; the number was arrived at…   Read more →
Posted on Friday, December 5, 2008 at 2:47 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
Dealing with a Map Thief
Tony Campbell made an announcement on MapHist a few days ago: “I have today [Oct. 8] posted on the Thefts pages of Map History an account by the map dealer George Ritzlin of his experiences in dealing with Joshua McCarty. McCarty was implicated in the theft of maps from Ted…   Read more →
Posted on Saturday, October 18, 2008 at 3:14 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
NGIN Meeting Features Brubaker Case
On the agenda at the Northwest Government Information Network’s fall meeting on November 7, 2008, according to Carlos Diaz’s e-mail announcement: “The featured program will be To Catch a Map Thief: The WWU Story of Purloined Maps. Rob Lopresti and Julie Fitzgerald of WWU Libraries will be detailing the story…   Read more →
Posted on Saturday, October 18, 2008 at 7:38 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
It’s Not Harvard’s Map
Harvard’s experts have concluded that the 1612 Champlain map being offered for auction at Sotheby’s next month is not their missing map. Previously: Harvard’s Missing Map?…   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 at 7:17 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
Harvard’s Missing Map?
A rare 1612 map of Canada will be auctioned at Sotheby’s next month. Is it the same map that went missing from Harvard University? Harvard discovered that its copy of Samuel de Champlain’s map was missing in 2005, during an investigation undertaken in the wake of the Smiley affair. Smiley…   Read more →
Posted on Sunday, October 12, 2008 at 8:20 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
Travis McDade on the Hayes Library Thefts
Also on MapHist, Tony Campbell points to this scorching blog entry by Travis McDade (a library administration professor and author of The Book Thief; see previous entry). Dade is writing about two thefts of rare books from the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library; while not about maps, this is an…   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, September 16, 2008 at 9:47 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
Brubaker Sentenced to 30 Months
74-year-old map thief James Brubaker was sentenced to 30 months in prison yesterday, the Calgary Herald reports; he had pleaded guilty to two counts in June. (Why the Calgary Herald? Because the Montana-based Brubaker apparently hit both the Universities of Calgary and Lethbridge.) Via MapHist. Previously: The Case Against James…   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, September 16, 2008 at 9:40 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
Updates on the Rivero Case
For the latest developments in the case of César Gómez Rivero, who is facing charges related to the theft of maps from Spain’s National Library, see this July article from El Pais and this more recent article from the Uruguayan version of El Pais. If, that is, you read Spanish….   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 at 11:49 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
Electrician Sentenced for Birmingham University Thefts
An electrician has been given a suspended sentence for stealing approximately £89,000 worth of maps, books and documents from Birmingham University’s library, the Birmingham Post reports. Richard Delaney, 37, was caught after failing to return a van that had been issued by his employer; use of the employer’s fuel card…   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, August 5, 2008 at 10:41 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
The Case Against James L. Brubaker
More on the Brubaker case: a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Montana outlines the federal case against James L. Brubaker, who pleaded guilty last month to charges of possession and interstate transportation of stolen property. Among the details: 338 books in his possession at…   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, July 9, 2008 at 7:57 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
Brubaker Pleads Guilty
A follow-up to this story: James Brubaker has pleaded guilty in federal court; he had been charged with stealing rare books — or pages torn from them — and selling them on eBay. Though he was largely busted for thefts from Western Washington University, a total of 109 libraries may…   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 at 7:25 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
Map Thief Bellwood Sentenced in Denmark
Map thief Peter Bellwood was sentenced by a British court to four and a half years in prison in 2004; now Denmark has had its crack at him: he was sentenced last Wednesday to a year in prison, plus a 324,000-kroner fine, for the theft of 11 maps from the…   Read more →
Posted on Sunday, May 18, 2008 at 6:29 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
Missing and Stolen Maps Database
The Missing and Stolen Maps Database has been announced. In early February 2008, the International Antiquarian Mapsellers Association (IAMA) voted to provide funding for the development and maintenance of a missing and stolen map database. The database is the result of advance cooperation and collaboration between dealers, collectors, librarians and…   Read more →
Posted on Sunday, April 27, 2008 at 3:12 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
Montana Man Arrested for WWU Map Thefts
Two years ago, I reported that a number of government documents in a Western Washington University library had been vandalized; at least 648 maps and coloured plates had been torn from at least 108 volumes in the United States Congressional Serial Set. Last month, they arrested the man who,…   Read more →
Posted on Monday, April 7, 2008 at 9:30 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
74 Maps Stolen from British Library
A note from the British Library’s Security Co-ordinator, Judith Barnes, that appeared on Shelf:Life and has been reprinted at PhiloBiblos: I very much regret to report that we have discovered the theft of 74 maps from Description de l’Univers, contenant les differentes systèmes du monde, les cartes … de la…   Read more →
Posted on Sunday, February 24, 2008 at 11:01 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
Australia Returns Stolen Map to Spain
A map stolen from a copy of the 1482 Cosmographia held by Spain’s National Library that turned up in a Sydney gallery has been returned by the Australian government. Previously: Of 19 Stolen Maps, 11 Have Been Recovered; Map Thief Surrenders; Some Maps Stolen from Spanish Library Recovered; Map Theft…   Read more →
Posted on Monday, February 4, 2008 at 4:12 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
Commendation for Recovering Stolen Maps
Last October, the Rare Books and Manuscript Section (RBMS) and the Map and Geography Roundtable (MAGERT) of the American Library Association passed a resolution commending booksellers, auction houses and map dealers for their assistance in recovering stolen maps. “Their efforts made possible the recent recovery of materials stolen from Yale…   Read more →
Posted on Friday, February 1, 2008 at 9:09 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
Boston Public Library’s Stolen Maps Returned
The denouement of the Forbes Smiley affair, at least as far as the Boston Public Library is concerned, is covered in today’s Boston Globe: “More than 30 rare, antique maps stolen from the Boston Public Library by a Martha’s Vineyard map dealer were returned to the library in 2007, library…   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, January 2, 2008 at 11:16 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
Of 19 Stolen Maps, 11 Have Been Recovered
The FBI has recovered two more maps stolen from the Spanish National Library, Reuters reports; out of a total of 19 stolen maps, that makes 11 that have since been recovered. Via Map the Universe. Previously: Map Thief Surrenders; Some Maps Stolen from Spanish Library Recovered; Map Theft Updates; Spanish…   Read more →
Posted on Sunday, November 11, 2007 at 8:24 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
Forbes Smiley Haunts Harvard Still
Forbes Smiley’s impact may still be felt at Harvard, where students endure long lines on their way out of the library for security checks, and where Harvard College’s Houghton Library has posted a list of three maps associated with the Smiley affair that are still missing. Via Tony Campbell’s map…   Read more →
Posted on Monday, October 22, 2007 at 12:48 PM
Categories: Libraries, Map Thefts
Map Thief Surrenders
The Times reports that the man suspected of stealing 19 maps from Spain’s national library has given himself up in Argentina. César Gómez Rivero, a Uruguyan-born Spanish national residing in Buenos Aires, tried to negotiate a deal with an Argentine judge last week by turning over eight of the maps….   Read more →
Posted on Monday, October 22, 2007 at 10:18 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
Some Maps Stolen from Spanish Library Recovered
More on the case of the maps stolen from the Spanish national library, courtesy of El País: the total number of maps stolen is now listed as 19 (on 12 leaves), but the missing maps are beginning to be recovered, by local authorities in New York and Sydney. For English-language…   Read more →
Posted on Monday, October 15, 2007 at 8:09 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
Map Theft Updates
More news about the maps stolen from a 1482 edition of the Cosmographia held in Spain’s national library: Spanish authorities have named a suspect, a 60-year-old Spanish citizen of Uruguayan origin currently residing in Argentina; and the missing maps have apparently been traced to an antique dealer in Australia. (Previously:…   Read more →
Posted on Monday, October 8, 2007 at 7:48 AM
Categories: Libraries, Map Thefts
Atlas Stolen in Normandy
Libraries aren’t the only targets of map thieves. “Please be advised that on 20 August an atlas was stolen from a private premises in Normandy in France,” Béatrice Loeb-Larocque wrote to Map the Universe. “The atlas contains 48 maps by Hugo Allardt and F. de Wit.” List of maps here…   Read more →
Posted on Thursday, September 6, 2007 at 7:49 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
Spanish Map Theft Update
We now have English-language media coverage of the recent map theft from the Spanish National Library: see The Times and The Independent. And we have some more information. The suspect is apparently an Argentine researcher who apparently was authorized by Spain’s ambassador in Argentina (who denies it); at any rate,…   Read more →
Posted on Saturday, September 1, 2007 at 10:56 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
Maps Stolen from Spain’s National Library
A 1482 edition of the Cosmographia held by Spain’s National Library has been vandalized, El Mundo reports. Two maps were removed despite the Library’s security measures: the volumes are kept in a room accessible only by cardholders. There are approximately 120 copies of the atlas in libraries worldwide, according…   Read more →
Posted on Friday, August 24, 2007 at 9:19 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
MAGERT Map Collection Security Guidelines
Draft guidelines for map collection security (PDF) are now available from MAGERT’s Task Force on Library Security for Cartographic Resources; they’re seeking comment by September 15. See also the conference report (PDF) from the ALA meeting. Via MAPS-L….   Read more →
Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2007 at 8:41 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
Keeping It Safe, Keeping It Available
In the July 2007 issue of the Library Student Journal, an article by Joel Kovarsky discusses security and theft-prevention measures in library special collections, and the challenges of keeping rare materials both safe and available. As you might expect, Joel makes special reference to l’affaire Forbes Smiley as the most…   Read more →
Posted on Thursday, August 2, 2007 at 9:03 PM
Categories: Libraries, Map Thefts
The Rebirth of the Sterling Map Collection
When Forbes Smiley was caught red-handed three years ago, it was at Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, but it was the map collection at the nearby Sterling Memorial Library — and the state of disrepair of its catalogue — that caused the most fallout after Smiley’s arrest. An…   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, August 1, 2007 at 10:32 PM
Categories: Libraries, Map Thefts
More Details on Tanner Atlas Recovery
The Journal News has more on the recovery of the 1823 Tanner Atlas. The atlas was taken from the Rockland Historical Society last month; the suspect is a former society employee. A Philadelphia bookseller who had been tipped off to the atlas’s theft essentially set the suspect up: after e-mail…   Read more →
Posted on Saturday, May 26, 2007 at 10:28 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
Tanner Atlas Recovered
The copy of the Tanner Atlas that was reported stolen earlier this month has been recovered, according to a post on Exlibris, which announced that the atlas “has been recovered in Pennsylvania by a bookseller who was aware of the item because of the Exlibris report.” Via MapHist….   Read more →
Posted on Friday, May 25, 2007 at 9:46 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
Smiley’s Restitution Raised to $2.3 Million
Last September, in addition to his 3½-year prison sentence, map thief E. Forbes Smiley III was ordered to pay restitution to his victims; at the time, the amount was tentatively set at $1.9 million (see previous entry). Today the final amount of restitution was set at $2.3 million, the Associated…   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, May 22, 2007 at 8:31 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
Tanner Atlas Stolen
Via MapHist, a report on the Ex-Libris mailing list that a copy of Tanner’s 1823 New American Atlas was stolen from a downstate New York library between April 20 and 22. (The David Rumsey site has numerous examples from this atlas.) Local police and the FBI have been alerted; one…   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, May 8, 2007 at 8:09 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
Audio: Kim Martineau on Forbes Smiley
Kim Martineau is the Hartfort Courant reporter whose first-rate coverage of the Forbes Smiley map theft case was the subject of many of my posts; since Smiley’s sentencing last fall, she’s been speaking about her experiences covering the case (see previous entry). She spoke to the Washington Map Society…   Read more →
Posted on Monday, March 19, 2007 at 2:44 PM
Categories: Map Thefts, Podcasts & Audio
50 Antique Maps Stolen in Pennsylvania
You didn’t think we were done with the map thievery just because Forbes Smiley is in the big house, did you? Antique Trade Mark reports that 50 antique maps went missing from a Harrisburg, Pennsylvania rare book store some time in early to mid-February. The total value of the maps…   Read more →
Posted on Friday, March 2, 2007 at 4:18 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
Forbes Smiley and Cortés’s Map
If you had thought you’d heard the last about Forbes Smiley — who is currently serving a three-and-a-half-year federal sentence after having admitted to stealing nearly 100 maps from various libraries — then you were mistaken. The Hartford Courant’s Kim Martineau has the strange tale of a 1524 woodcut map…   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 at 3:56 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
Theft Roundup: Yale Security Measures; European Libraries
Yale University is considering a series of new library security measures following three (!) reviews set into motion by the Forbes Smiley case, Yale Daily News reports (not Safari-compatible). Among other things, reading rooms will be videotaped and cataloguing and internal communications will be improved. You may recall that after…   Read more →
Posted on Thursday, November 30, 2006 at 8:42 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
BPL’s List of Missing Maps
The Boston Public Library has released a list of maps classified as missing from the Leventhal Map Center. According to yesterday’s press release, the list has been released now that Forbes Smiley has been sentenced. [T]he Boston Public Library is releasing this list in an effort to aid in the…   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, November 15, 2006 at 11:00 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
Kim Martineau to Speak on Forbes Smiley Case
Kim Martineau, the Hartfort Courant reporter who filed many excellent stories about the Forbes Smiley map theft case, will be a guest speaker at the November 16th meeting of the Washington Map Society; she’ll also be speaking to the New York Map Society in March. Via MapHist….   Read more →
Posted on Saturday, October 21, 2006 at 10:48 AM
Categories: Groups & Societies, Map Thefts
Smiley Sentenced to Five Years
The Hartford Courant: “A state judge sentenced E. Forbes Smiley III, the Martha’s Vineyard map thief, to the maximum five years in prison Friday, a move that was largely symbolic and unlikely to add time to the 3½-year sentence Smiley has received in federal court.” This sentence is for the…   Read more →
Posted on Saturday, October 14, 2006 at 7:48 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
Hartford Courant: String Him Up!
A Hartford Courant editorial adds to the chorus fulminating against the sentence handed to Forbes Smiley last week: Should a judge forgive a car thief because he returned the vehicle? Should a mass murderer get a lighter sentence because he led police to more bodies? To imply that Mr. Smiley’s…   Read more →
Posted on Friday, October 6, 2006 at 8:22 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
Antiques and the Arts Online on Smiley’s Sentencing
Antiques and the Arts Online’s article on Forbes Smiley’s sentencing contains some information not seen in other coverage. It doesn’t hurt that it lacks the gosh-wow factor inherent in so much mainstream coverage, where reporters stand in awe of the maps’ age and value. It touches upon the recoverability of…   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, October 4, 2006 at 7:29 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
NYPL Issues Missing Maps List
Following previous lists issued by Harvard and Yale libraries, the New York Public Library has issued a list of missing antiquarian maps and a list of rare books from which maps have been taken. Via Maps-L. I don’t have any background with which to contextualize this announcement, though I expect…   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, October 3, 2006 at 3:55 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
Connecticut Public Radio on Forbes Smiley Sentence
Connecticut Public Radio (WNPR)’s program, Where We Live, had a long segment dedicated to the Forbes Smiley sentence on last Thursday’s program. Featured, a long interview with map dealer William Reese (see previous entry), who shared his thoughts on the sentence, on Smiley personally, and on his work with Yale’s…   Read more →
Posted on Monday, October 2, 2006 at 8:26 PM
Categories: Map Thefts, Podcasts & Audio
Breaking News: Smiley Sentenced to 3½ Years
The Associated Press: A renowned dealer who admitted stealing nearly 100 rare antique maps was sentenced Wednesday to 3½ years in prison after one librarian described him as a “thief who assaulted history.” E. Forbes Smiley III, a 50-year-old resident of Martha’s Vineyard, also was tentatively ordered to pay restitution…   Read more →
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Posted on Wednesday, September 27, 2006 at 5:18 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
Prosecutors File Brief, Explain Smiley’s Motives
Attorneys for the British Library and Forbes Smiley have made their submissions regarding Smiley’s upcoming sentencing; now it’s the prosecution’s turn. In their sentencing brief today, prosecutors explained Smiley’s motives for stealing nearly 100 maps, the Associated Press’s John Christoffersen reports: “He explained that his initial thefts were acting out…   Read more →
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Posted on Thursday, September 21, 2006 at 12:30 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
Forbes Smiley’s Sentencing Memorandum
The 39-page sentencing memorandum written by Forbes Smiley’s defence attorney, Richard Reeve, is available online (PDF) from the Hartford Courant (see also the attached exhibits). The document responds to the memorandum submitted last week by the British Library, partially on legally technical grounds (a lot of stuff about the arcane…   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, September 20, 2006 at 8:47 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
Sentencing Delayed
Forbes Smiley’s sentencing has been postponed until October 13. No reasons as yet for the delay; the hearing had already been pushed back to accomodate libraries’ sentencing memoranda. Update, Sept. 27: This applies only to Smiley’s sentencing in state court for three larceny charges; he was sentenced in federal court…   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, September 20, 2006 at 8:24 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
Forbes Smiley Asks for Leniency
In the wake of the British Library’s submission calling for a stiffer sentence than called for by the guidelines, Forbes Smiley’s attorney is asking for leniency, the Associated Press reports. Specifically, he’s asking for three years, rather than the five to six years suggested by the guidelines and the up-to-eight…   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, September 19, 2006 at 10:05 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
British Library/Forbes Smiley Update
News coverage of the British Library’s submission regarding Forbes Smiley’s upcoming sentencing continues to trickle in: here are stories from the Library Journal, the Vineyard Gazette and the Yale Daily News — the last covering libraries’ stepped-up security following Smiley’s arrest. See previous entries: Forbes Smiley Case: More on the…   Read more →
Posted on Monday, September 18, 2006 at 9:48 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
Forbes Smiley Case: More on the British Library’s Brief
The Guardian adds to the coverage of the British Library’s brief asking for a harsher penalty for Forbes Smiley (see previous entry). I must confess to some misgivings about the ferociousness of the libraries’ response to Mr. Smiley. He’s already facing five to six years in jail, on top of…   Read more →
Posted on Sunday, September 17, 2006 at 10:41 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
British Library Demands Harsher Sentence for Smiley
The British Library has unleashed its hired gun (see previous entry). In a court filing yesterday, the Library’s attorney, Robert Goldman, asks that Smiley be sentenced to up to eight years, rather than the five to six years agreed to by both the prosecution and defence. The Hartford Courant and…   Read more →
Posted on Thursday, September 14, 2006 at 8:36 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
The Book Thief
Travis McDade writes, “I have a book coming out in October about a man who stole books and maps from Columbia University some years ago. The book deals a little with his theft and capture but largely with the unique federal sentence he got for his crime. (This is…   Read more →
Posted on Thursday, September 7, 2006 at 10:48 AM
Categories: Books, Map Thefts
Reese Donates $100K to Yale for Map Digitization
Rare book and map dealer William Reese is donating $100,000 to Yale University — a donation that the university will match and add to with a fundraising campaign. The money will go towards digitizing and cataloguing Yale’s maps: the eventual end result will be a complete electronic catalogue, but there…   Read more →
Posted on Thursday, August 17, 2006 at 8:47 AM
Categories: Libraries, Map Thefts
The British Library’s Hired Gun
The British Library has hired Robert Goldman, an attorney who specializes in art thefts, to represent it in hopes of tracking down the missing maps that Forbes Smiley has not confessed to taking. The Hartford Courant’s Kim Martineau has a profile of the eccentric lawyer: With a drooping mustache and…   Read more →
Posted on Monday, August 14, 2006 at 9:46 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
Stolen Maps Meeting Kept Private
The results of Monday’s meeting between libraries from whom Forbes Smiley stole maps will be kept private, the Harvard Crimson reports, though the article suggests that no actions have been ruled out, including private investigators and a civil suit. Via MapHist (thanks again, Tony). See previous entry: Forbes Smiley Case:…   Read more →
Posted on Saturday, August 12, 2006 at 11:36 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
Forbes Smiley Case: Another Missing Maps Update
Today’s Vinyard Gazette story about the Forbes Smiley case refers to Monday’s meeting of libraries from whom Smiley stole (see previous entry) but adds little new information; it’s mostly a recap, but does emphasize the penalties Smiley faces next month. However, Tony Campbell has discovered via this article that Yale’s…   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, August 8, 2006 at 8:45 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
Missing Map Overlap
The Harvard Crimson reports on the growing concern that Forbes Smiley may have stolen more maps than he admitted to, and on a meeting of affected map libraries this Monday: “But at least four of those libraries, including the Houghton [Harvard’s Houghton Library], are missing copies of the same maps,…   Read more →
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Posted on Friday, August 4, 2006 at 8:26 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
Yale Issues Statement About Smiley Investigation
Yale University issued the following statement on August 1: Several recent news stories have mischaracterized Yale University’s views regarding the federal investigation of map thefts by E. Forbes Smiley. Yale is confident that the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office have conducted a thorough investigation of the thefts, and the…   Read more →
Posted on Thursday, August 3, 2006 at 10:16 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
Harvard’s List of Missing Maps
Last month Yale issued a list of missing maps; today Harvard has done the same: I have a copy of their list (two pages, 25 KB, PDF file). See previous entries: Stolen Harvard Maps to Be Returned in September; Forbes Smiley Case: Harvard Crimson Coverage; Forbes Smiley Case: Court Documents;…   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, August 1, 2006 at 2:31 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
Boston Globe on Libraries’ Suspicions About Smiley
Kim Martineau’s latest article (see previous entry) has been picked up by the wire services, but the Boston Globe has a new article on the matter of whether Forbes Smiley took more maps than he’s confessed to, with, as you might expect, a focus on the missing maps at Boston…   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, August 1, 2006 at 7:32 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
Libraries Suspect Smiley in More Map Thefts
More from the Hartford Courant on the libraries’ growing belief that Forbes Smiley may not have fessed up to all the maps he stole from them. In a nutshell (and as covered previously here), the libraries’ post-arrest inventories turned up missing maps that have not been accounted for by the…   Read more →
Posted on Sunday, July 30, 2006 at 12:43 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
Stolen Harvard Maps to Be Returned in September
From today’s Boston Globe: “Eight maps purloined from the Houghton Library at Harvard University will be returned to the institution in September, when E. Forbes Smiley III is sentenced for their thefts, according to a US Justice Department spokesman.” See previous entries: Forbes Smiley Case: Harvard Crimson Coverage; Forbes Smiley…   Read more →
Posted on Sunday, July 23, 2006 at 7:33 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
Yale’s Missing Maps
After Forbes Smiley was caught in the act of stealing maps from Yale’s Beinecke Library last year, the university began an inventory of its map holdings to discover, comprehensively, what was missing. Precluded by federal authorities from making the list public until Smiley’s guilty plea last month, Yale has now…   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, July 19, 2006 at 8:08 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
Is Forbes Smiley Getting Off Easy?
Much discussion about Forbes Smiley’s purported cooperation and the appropriateness of his upcoming sentence on MapHist, where Tony Campbell, referring to the news stories that maps from Harvard and the British Library are still missing, is starting to notice a pattern: “[W]hile the FBI appears to believe that the case…   Read more →
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Posted on Tuesday, July 4, 2006 at 10:34 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
Forbes Smiley Case: Harvard Crimson Coverage
The Harvard Crimson’s coverage of Forbes Smiley’s guilty plea naturally focuses on the maps taken from Harvard’s Houghton Library. When last we heard, Harvard was conducting an inventory; according to the article, “Houghton Library discovered that 13 maps were missing from their collection. Of those 13 maps, Smiley has admitted…   Read more →
Posted on Friday, June 30, 2006 at 3:29 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
Three Missing British Maps Still Missing
Forbes Smiley might not be out of the woods yet. Three maps that went missing from the British Library last year (and reported here last September) are still missing. They were not among the maps that Smiley confessed to taking (see previous entry), but British authorities are still wondering whether…   Read more →
Posted on Friday, June 30, 2006 at 7:50 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
Forbes Smiley Case: Martha’s Vineyard Coverage
E. Forbes Smiley III is based in Martha’s Vineyard; local coverage of his case — of his court appearance and guilty plea last week and the case in general — appeared in yesterday’s Martha’s Vineyard Times and today’s Vineyard Gazette. See the Map Thefts category archive for earlier entries on…   Read more →
Posted on Friday, June 30, 2006 at 7:39 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
Forbes Smiley Case: Nine Maps of Canada
The National Post’s coverage of the Forbes Smiley affair focuses on the nine early maps of Canada that were recovered after Smiley’s arrest. See previous entries: Breaking News: Forbes Smiley Pleads Guilty; Forbes Smiley Case: Court Documents; Hartford Courant: “For Map Thief, a World of Deceit.”…   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, June 27, 2006 at 8:34 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
Hartford Courant: ‘For Map Thief, a World of Deceit’
An excellent story about the denouement of the Forbes Smiley affair by Kim Martineau appeared in yesterday’s Hartford Courant — which, again, has provided the leading coverage on this case. Martineau’s article goes into more detail about the missing maps, how they were recovered, and which ones are still missing…   Read more →
Posted on Monday, June 26, 2006 at 10:50 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
Forbes Smiley Case: Court Documents
Thanks to Tony Campbell, I’ve acquired copies of the following court documents related to Forbes Smiley’s guilty plea last Thursday (see previous entry): The single-count indictment to which Smiley pled guilty (two pages, 28 KB); The full text of the plea agreement (13 pages, 140 KB); Exhibit A, a table…   Read more →
Posted on Monday, June 26, 2006 at 11:54 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
Breaking News: Forbes Smiley Pleads Guilty
The Associated Press: E. Forbes Smiley III, 50, of Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., pleaded guilty to one count of theft of major artwork in connection with the theft of a map from Yale University. He admitted taking a total of 97 maps over eight years from other institutions, including the New…   Read more →
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Posted on Thursday, June 22, 2006 at 5:46 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
Forbes Smiley in Court Tomorrow
A reminder that Forbes Smiley — the map dealer caught cutting rare maps from books in a Yale University library last year — is due in court tomorrow. From an AP story in the Boston Globe: “Smiley, who pleaded not guilty to the charges last year, could face about five…   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 2:39 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
Forbes Smiley Case: Hartford Courant Editorial
The Hartford Courant, which has done most of the front-line reporting on the Forbes Smiley map theft case (see many previous posts in the Map Thefts category), fulminates against the man in an editorial this morning: “To cultural guardians, this is no less serious an affront than desecration of a…   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, June 20, 2006 at 7:11 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
More Forbes Smiley Coverage
More from the Vineyard Gazette on the news that Forbes Smiley may plead guilty on the 22nd. See previous entry: Forbes Smiley to Admit Map Thefts….   Read more →
Posted on Friday, June 16, 2006 at 8:52 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
Forbes Smiley to Admit Map Thefts
The Hartford Courant: “E. Forbes Smiley III, 50, who lives on Martha’s Vineyard, is due to appear in U.S. District Court in New Haven on June 22 to accept responsibility for a staggering number of thefts, bringing a yearlong FBI investigation to an end.” The Forbes Smiley case first came…   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, June 14, 2006 at 7:19 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
WWU Collection Vandalized
A developing story on the MAPS-L mailing list. Last month, a librarian at Western Washington University reported that a number of government documents had been vandalized. The plates had been removed with a razor (the modus operandi of map thieves). Since then, lists of plates and illustrations missing from the…   Read more →
Posted on Sunday, March 12, 2006 at 9:38 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
What Can Collectors Do to Prevent Map Theft?
Roger Baskes, president of the International Map Collectors’ Society, responds to the Forbes Smiley business (covered here at great length) with an article on what collectors can do to deter map thieves. In the article, which first appeared in the IMCoS quarterly journal but has been reprinted on Tony Campbell’s…   Read more →
Posted on Monday, February 27, 2006 at 8:18 PM
Categories: Collecting, Map Thefts
Forbes Smiley Case: Fallout at Yale’s Beinecke Library
The Hartford Courant’s Kim Martineau has been on the Forbes Smiley case for months, and has generally led the reporting on the story (see the Map Thefts category archive for earlier coverage). In today’s edition, she has a story that looks at the fallout from the case at the library…   Read more →
Posted on Sunday, January 15, 2006 at 10:40 AM
Categories: Libraries, Map Thefts
Link Roundup for January 12
As an experiment, a lot of new links at once: A new Google Earth blog with a rather unwieldy title: Using Google Earth for Earth Science and Remote Sensing (via Ogle Earth). The Prejudice Map is built by querying Google with phrases like “Germans are known for” and pasting up…   Read more →
Posted on Thursday, January 12, 2006 at 9:41 AM
Categories: Blogs, Conferences, Groups & Societies, Libraries, Map Thefts, Miscellany, Online Maps, Satellite & Aerial
The Class Implications of the Forbes Smiley Case
Alan Bisbort, writing in the Hartford Advocate, pokes at the class implications of the Forbes Smiley case brought out, in part, by William Finnegan’s New Yorker article (see previous entry): Smiley was one of the elite in the antiquarian trade. With his absurdly patrician name and presumed pedigree, he’d been…   Read more →
Posted on Friday, November 4, 2005 at 11:33 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
Forbes Smiley Case: Another Roundup
William Finnegan’s long article in the Oct. 17 issue of The New Yorker, which I mentioned in an earlier entry, wasn’t online, but it was very good — an excellent summary of what was known to date with some additional reporting. Tony Campbell, in a post to MapHist this morning,…   Read more →
Posted on Monday, October 24, 2005 at 6:37 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
More Forbes Smiley Coverage
The Daily Princetonian covers the Forbes Smiley case in like manner to the University of Chicago Maroon (see previous entry), by using the case to focus on concerns about rare-book and special-collection security in libraries. Meanwhile, through MapHist I learn that the case is the subject of an article in…   Read more →
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Posted on Thursday, October 13, 2005 at 7:20 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
Forbes Smiley Coverage: Chicago Maroon
For the sake of completeness, here is a short article from the Chicago Maroon, the University of Chicago’s student newspaper, about this Forbes Smiley business (abundantly documented in the Map Thefts category archives); of interest is the description of the security measures taken at the University of Chicago’s special collections…   Read more →
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Posted on Tuesday, October 11, 2005 at 9:24 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
Forbes Smiley Case: Arader Says, ‘I Told You So’
Controversial map dealer Graham Arader stirs the pot again in the New York Times (free registration required): “‘I’ve been telling everybody that Forbes is a crook for 20 years, and everybody says to me, “You just think the only good maps are the ones you have,”’ Mr. Arader said in…   Read more →
Posted on Monday, October 10, 2005 at 7:39 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
Forbes Smiley Case: London Times Coverage
Tomorrow’s edition of the London Times (or today’s, depending on where in the world you are at the moment), has an article on the Forbes Smiley case that adds some new information from the FBI. Despite Smiley’s plea of not guilty last August, FBI sources said that Mr Smiley had…   Read more →
Posted on Thursday, October 6, 2005 at 10:25 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
Forbes Smiley Roundup
The Yale Daily News covers Forbes Smiley’s pre-trial conference, which took place yesterday. The International Herald Tribune reprinted yesterday’s New York Times story (see previous entry), in case an alternate URL is needed. The Toronto Star also reprinted the story. Smiley, a well-known map dealer, has been charged with stealing…   Read more →
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Posted on Tuesday, October 4, 2005 at 7:00 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
New York Times Forbes Smiley Coverage (Updated)
Forbes Smiley is scheduled to appear in court today; coincidentally, the New York Times covers the case in today’s edition (free registration required). The article, which sums up what is known to date, notes a couple of things I didn’t know about the FBI’s warnings and investigations: libraries that checked…   Read more →
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Posted on Monday, October 3, 2005 at 10:10 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
Forbes Smiley Profile
E. Forbes Smiley III has not talked to the media since the news of his arrest on map theft charges broke in July. The Hartford Courant, however, has interviewed friends, neighbours, colleagues and detractors to piece together a portrait of the man. It’s a very long, very interesting article that,…   Read more →
Posted on Sunday, September 25, 2005 at 11:06 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
More British Library Theft Coverage
More coverage of the recent theft of three maps from the British Library from the Hampstead and Highgate Express; the article seems particularly clueless, and tries to draw in other missing items that are as likely to be misplaced as not. See previous entries: Three Maps Stolen from British Library;…   Read more →
Posted on Sunday, September 18, 2005 at 4:22 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
Smiley Suspected in British Library Thefts
The Montreal Gazette also covers the news that three maps were stolen from the British Library (see previous entry). The Gazette article focuses on a map of particular significance to Canadian history — a 1578 map of Martin Frobisher’s discoveries in northern Canada — and, significantly, fingers Forbes Smiley as…   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, September 14, 2005 at 9:45 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
Three Maps Stolen from British Library
Three early maps — two 17th-century maps of North America and a 16th-century world map — have been taken from the British Library, The Independent reports in today’s edition. The maps were taken earlier this year, in March and June; the investigation is, as they say, ongoing….   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, September 13, 2005 at 8:36 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
Forbes Smiley Case: LA Times on Library Security
Today’s Los Angeles Times has a story about the Forbes Smiley case that focuses on the security measures adopted by rare book libraries. (If the site asks that you register, clear your latimes.com cookies.)…   Read more →
Posted on Saturday, September 10, 2005 at 11:16 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
LA Times: Forbes Smiley and the Culture of Stealing
An op-ed in today’s LA Times by Rachel Shteir uses the Forbes Smiley case to argue that we are now living in a culture of stealing: “Before Smiley’s arrest, he was, to all appearances, a respectable map dealer with a reputation for helping libraries build their collections. But whatever becomes…   Read more →
Posted on Monday, August 29, 2005 at 3:53 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
Updates on the Forbes Smiley Case
What is to be done? Much discussion over on MapHist about what the Forbes Smiley arrest can teach us about map security, with suggestions about how to tighten security in map collections, such as CCTV, limiting what can be taken into a rare books room, and physically checking the books…   Read more →
Posted on Thursday, August 18, 2005 at 8:44 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
Forbes Smiley Case: 10 Maps Missing at Boston Library
The Boston Globe reports that 10 rare maps are missing from the Boston Public Library. The library began to check its collection after Forbes Smiley, a frequent visitor to the library, was arrested last month. See also this Boston Globe editorial (registration barriers may interfere in both links). [via] See…   Read more →
Posted on Friday, August 12, 2005 at 8:18 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
Forbes Smiley News Roundup
Tony Campbell is keeping tabs on news coverage of the Forbes Smiley court case here, and has asked to be informed of other reporting on this story. For the sake of completeness, here are some earlier news stories on the Forbes Smiley arrest and court case, as compiled by Tony:…   Read more →
Posted on Thursday, August 11, 2005 at 9:09 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
Map Dealer in Court Yesterday
E. Forbes Smiley III, who was charged with stealing maps from a university library (see previous entry), was in court yesterday: he pleaded not guilty; his next court appearance is scheduled for October 3. More on the arrest from the Boston Globe: this article appeared the day of, and prior…   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, August 10, 2005 at 5:57 AM
Categories: Map Thefts
Map Dealer Faces Theft Charges
When you read The Island of Lost Maps, a book about map theft by Miles Harvey, you get the clear impression that neither map librarians nor map dealers were comfortable admitting that map thieves existed in their midst — that they were cutting maps out of rare books in their…   Read more →
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Posted on Saturday, August 6, 2005 at 10:20 PM
Categories: Map Thefts
Map Thief Jailed
(I was going through my e-mail and stumbled across a link that Huw had submitted in late December and that, probably because of the holidays-induced chaos, I simply forgot to post. Anyway, here it is now.) Last December, the BBC reported that map thief Peter Bellwood was sentenced to four…   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, February 9, 2005 at 4:26 PM
Categories: Map Thefts

Note: Entries from 2003 were not categorized and will not appear in the category archives. Please consult the monthly archives.