Rare Book Monthly

Articles - August - 2008 Issue

A Stolen Shakespeare First Folio Found?

Durham

A Shakespeare First Folio.


By Michael Stillman

The missing Durham University copy of the Shakespeare first folio is believed to have been found by the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. We say "believed" because the man who brought it to the Folger denies it is the Durham copy. However, experts at the Folger believe it is, and Durham University is quite certain. This is no insignificant matter as a first folio has a street value somewhere in the $20-$30 million range (the Durham copy has defects so the value may be considerably lower).

This story began ten years ago when a 1623 Shakespeare first folio was stolen from the library of Durham University in northeastern U.K. This work has been variously described as "irreplaceable," "priceless," and "the most important book in the English language." The first two of those are, of course, incorrect. It isn't irreplaceable as there are a couple hundred of these things still around, and as previously noted, there is a price tag, albeit $20 million+. However the description as the most important English language book most likely is true.

This was not the only item stolen from Durham at the time. A fragment of a Chaucer poem in a 15th century manuscript, along with a couple of other valuable, though not on the first folio level, items were also taken. Durham University reports that it has significantly improved its security since then. We surely hope so.

So for ten years, the Durham first folio remained missing. Then, one day last month, a man walked into the Folger Library with a first folio under his arm. He reportedly described himself as a businessman who had brought the book from Cuba. He wished to have the Folger examine and determine the book's authenticity. Now, it's not everyday that a person walks into the Folger with a first folio, even if that library does hold the world's largest collection of them (an incredible 79 copies). In fact, this was the first time anyone ever walked in off the street with a copy without even making an appointment. That in itself undoubtedly set off alarms. And the idea that a $20-$30 million book would have come from Cuba, the world's last seriously Communist nation, where everyone is theoretically a happy laborer, must have been particularly incongruous. The Folger immediately checked its missing first folios list, which led to a thorough comparison with every known detail about the missing Durham copy. After a few days of digging, the Folger concluded that this was indeed the Durham copy.

Back in England, the folks at Durham University were ecstatic. On its website, the university noted, "Durham University is rejoicing following news that a stolen rare Shakespeare book is returning home." Meanwhile, British police tracked down the man who brought the book to the Folger. Arrested was 51-year-old Raymond Scott, an eccentric and flamboyant bibliophile of sorts, who promptly denied his copy was the one stolen from Durham. His story was one that the police undoubtedly found unbelievable, as they clearly don't believe him, but Scott is entitled to his day in court.

Scott lives in the small town of Washington (there's a coincidence), in county Tyne and Wear, in northeastern England. This Washington was not named after George (he probably isn't that great a hero in the old country), though it may, or may not, be named for some of his distant ancestors. Now here's another coincidence. The little village of Washington is located just a few miles from Durham University. This undoubtedly made the police even more suspicious, as Cuba is much farther than that from Washington, U.K.

Rare Book Monthly

  • <b>Doyle, April 25:</b> E.H. SHEPARD, Original drawing for A.A. Milne’s The House at Pooh Corner.<br>$40,000-60,000
    <b>Doyle, April 25:</b> BERNARD RATZER, Plan of the City of New York in North America, surveyed in the years 1766 & 1767. $80,000-100,000
    <b>Doyle, April 25:</b> THOMAS JEFFERSON, Autograph letter signed comparing Logan, Tecumseh, and Little Turtle to the Spartans. Monticello: 15 February 1821. $14,000-18,000
    <b>Doyle, April 25:</b> JOHN C. FREMONT, Narrative of the Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, in the Year 1842.. Abridged edition, the only one containing the folding map From the Sporting Library of Arnold “Jake” Johnson. $3,000-5,000
    <b>Doyle, April 25:</b> ZANE GREY, Album containing 94 large format photographs of Grey and party at Catalina Island, Arizona, and fishing in the Pacific. From the Sporting Library of Arnold “Jake” Johnson. $5,000-$8,000
    <b>Doyle, April 25:</b> WILLIAM COMBE, A History of Madeira ... illustrative of the Costumes, Manners, and Occupations of the Inhabitants. produced by Ackermann in 1821; From the Sporting Library of Jake Johnson. $2,000-$3,000
    <b>Doyle, April 25:</b> ERIC TAVERNER, Salmon Fishing... One of 275 copies signed by Taverner, published in 1931,From the Sporting Library of Jake Johnson. $2,000-$3,000
    <b>Doyle, April 25:</b> JOHN WHITEHEAD, Exploration of Mount Kina Balu, North Borneo. Whitehead reached the high point of Kinabalu in 1888. Part of a major group of travel books from the Sporting Library of Jake Johnson. $2,000-$3,000
    <b>Doyle, April 25:</b> JOHN LONG, Voyages and Travels of an Indian Interpreter and Trader, describing the Manners and Customs of the North American Indians... The first edition of 1791. $3,000-$5,000
    <b>Doyle, April 25:</b> SAMUEL BECKETT, Stirrings Still. This, Beckett’s last work of fiction with original lithographs by Le Brocquy, limited to 200 copies signed by the author and the artist. From the Estate of Howard Kaminsky.. $1,500-$2,500
  • <b>19th Century Shop:</b> Charles Darwin on sexuality and the transmission of hereditary characteristics: Autograph Letter Signed to Lawson Tait. Down, 17 January [1877].
    <b>19th Century Shop:</b> MILTON, JOHN. <i>Paradise Lost. A Poem written in ten books.</i> London: 1667. A very rare example with the contemporary binding untouched and with a 1667 title page.
    <b>19th Century Shop:</b> Hamilton secures the ratification of the Constitution: <i>The Debates and Proceedings of the Convention of the State of New-York, assembled at Poughkeespsie, on the 17th June, 1788.</i>
    <b>19th Century Shop:</b> The social contract “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains”: ROUSSEAU, JEAN-JACQUES. <i>Principes du Droit Politique [Du Contract Social]</i>. Amsterdam: Michel Rey, 1762
    <b>19th Century Shop:</b> “The first English textbook on geometrical land-measurement and surveying”: BENESE, RICHARD. <i>This Boke Sheweth the Maner of Measurynge All Maner of Lande…</i>
  • <b>Swann Auction Galleries Apr 26:</b> Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann, wallpaper sample book, circa 1919. $15,000 to $25,000.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Apr 26:</b> Archive from a late office of the Breuer & Smith architectural team, New York, 1960-70s. $3,500 to $5,000.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Apr 26:</b> William Morris, <i>The Story of the Glittering Plain or the Land of Living Men,</i> illustrated by Walter Crane, Kelmscott Press, Hammersmith, 1894. $2,500 to $3,500.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Apr 26:</b> Gustave Doré, <i>La Sainte Bible selon la Vulgate,</i> Tours, 1866. $15,000 to $25,000.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Apr 26:</b> Gustav Klimt & Max Eisler, <i>Eine Nachlese,</i> complete set, Vienna, 1931. $15,000 to $25,000.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Apr 26:</b><br>Eric Allatini & Gerda Wegener, <i>Sur Talons Rouges,</i> with original watercolor by Wegener, Paris, 1929. $5,000 to $7,500.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Apr 26:</b><br>C.P. Cavafy, <i>Fourteen Poems,</i> illustrated & signed by David Hockney, London, 1966. $5,000 to $7,500.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Apr 26:</b> Jean Midolle, <i>Spécimen des Écritures Modernes...</i>, Strasbourg, 1834-35. $3,000 to $4,000.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Apr 26:</b><br>E.A. Seguy, <i>Floréal: Dessins & Coloris Nouveaux,</i> Paris, 1925. $3,000 to $4,000.
  • <b>Bonhams: Results from Fine Books and Manuscripts on March 9, 2018</b>
    <b>Bonhams, Mar. 9:</b> BEETHOVEN, LUDWIG VAN. Autograph Manuscript sketch-leaf part of the score of the Scottish Songs, "Sunset" Op. 108 no 2. [Vienna, February 1818]. Inscribed by Alexander Wheelock Thayer. SOLD for $131,250
    <b>Bonhams, Mar. 9:</b> Violin belonging to Albert Einstein, presented to him by Oscar H. Steger, 1933. SOLD for $516,500
    <b>Bonhams, Mar. 9:</b> EINSTEIN, ALBERT. Autograph Letter Signed ("Papa") to his son Hans Albert, discussing his involvement with the atomic bomb, September 2, 1945. SOLD for $106,250
    <b>Bonhams: Results from Fine Books and Manuscripts on March 9, 2018</b>
    <b>Bonhams, Mar. 9:</b> HAMILTON, ALEXANDER. Autograph Letter Signed, to Baron von Steuben, with extensive notes of Von Steuben's aide Benjamin Walker, June 12, 1780. SOLD for $16,250
    <b>Bonhams, Mar. 9:</b> NEWTON, ISAAC. Autograph Manuscript in Latin, being detailed instructions on making the philosopher's stone. 8 pp. 1790s. SOLD for $275,000
    <b>Bonhams, Mar. 9:</b> 1869 Inauguration Bible of President Ulysses S. Grant. SOLD for $118,750

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