Sunday, May 26, 2013

A Thief in the Lambeth Library

From Stephanie Mann:
BBC History Magazine features this story in its April 2013 issue and the BBC News website also covers the news: the Lambeth Palace Library staff noticed quite a few losses from the stacks starting in 1975--and they thought about 60 books had been stolen. As the Lambeth Palace Library website tells the story:
Early in 1975 the Lambeth Palace Librarian noticed a troubling gap on the shelves where some important books had been kept. The books could not be found and a search of the rest of the Library showed that this gap was not unique. On examining the card catalogue it was discovered that the catalogue cards for the missing items had also been removed. This made it difficult to ascertain exactly what was missing but it was thought that around sixty items had been removed from the Library. The police were informed and the bookselling community notified. None of the books was recovered, however, and the trail went cold.
(Read entire post.)
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1 comment:

Stephanie A. Mann said...

Thank you very much for the post and link! There is really quite a story in the background here: someone plotting the "perfect crime"; making money by selling some of the books and preparing to sell more; perhaps regretting the theft; finally confessing the theft before death through his will--but never truly facing the guilt and making personal reparation. Happy Trinity Sunday!!