During the 1970s the Royal Library suffered numerous book thefts, primarily from its older collections.The case was handed over to the police, who conducted extensive investigations and searches for stolen books via Interpol and the international antiquarian book trade. In spite of these efforts the crime was not solved. The library established several new security measures in the course of the 1970s, as a result of which the thefts stopped.
In the period 1979-1999 the library conducted a total inventory of its older collections in order to determine the extent of the thefts.
In 2003 the library was contacted by the British auction house Christie's about some books that Christie's had received for sale. These books turned out to have been stolen from The Royal Library in the 1970s. The police was notified, and several persons were subsequently convicted. Read more about the case here:
|
|
The Royal Library's report to the Danish Ministry of Culture (In Danish) (PDF,600k)
High Court judgment ("Landsretsdommen")) (In Danish) (PDF,2M)
Copenhagen City Court judgment ("Byretsdommen") (in English) (PDF,4M)
Lists of books retrieved:
Rare Books from the Foreign and Danish Collections (PDF,200k)
Books etc. from the Oriental Department (PDF,400k)
Books from the New Collections (PDF,300k)
Supplement: Rare books retrieved from Christie's a.o. (PDF,200k)
Pictures of some retrieved books
|
