[CPProt.net] Fwd: SAFE Panel on Stolen Books in Commerce, October 2005

[Ellie Bruggeman]

DECLARED LOST: Recovering Stolen Books
 
October 29 (Sat), 10 AM
Rabb Lecture Hall, Boston Public Library

Whose responsibility is it to police the world of books? What do stories of
the theft and breaking of books have to tell us about the meaning of reading
and learning?
 
A panel of lawyers, scholars, librarians, and bookdealers will address these
and other questions in DECLARED LOST: Recovering Stolen Books, a symposium
to be held in the Boston Public Library's Rabb Lecture Hall on October 29 at
10 AM. Scheduled to coincide with the Boston Antiquarian Book Fair, DECLARED
LOST will strive to foster dialogue about books, theft, trade, and cultural
heritage.
 
The panel discussion will bring together an internationally-known group of
experts on books and cultural property. Nicholas Basbanes, author of A
Gentle Madness and the forthcoming Every Book Its
Reader: The Power of the Printed Word to Stir the World, (HarperCollins),
will explore the story of Stephen Blumberg, who stole close to thirty
thousand books valued at $20 million from more than 300 libraries throughout
the United States and Canada. Ken Sanders, of Ken Sanders Rare Books in Salt
Lake City, former chair of the security committee of the Antiquarian
Booksellers' Association of America (ABAA), who has helped bring several
book thieves to justice and exposed numerous frauds and forgeries, will
discuss internet techniques and strategies for exposing and combating theft
and deception in the trade. Jeff Spurr, Islamic and Middle East Specialist
in Harvard University's Fine Arts Library, will discuss the case of Jose
Torres, who stole an estimated $1.5 million worth of books and prints from
Harvard's libraries. David Szewczyk, a partner in the Philadelphia Rare
Books & Manuscripts Company and current co-chair of the security committee
of the ABAA, will offer his perspective on two cases in which he helped to
identify and recover stolen books.
Michael Thompson, a Chicago attorney who specializes in cultural property
law and past president of the Caxton Club of Chicago, will discuss the
recovery of Holocaust-era displaced books. The panel will be moderated by
SAFE member Matthew Battles, author of
Library: An Unquiet History and coordinating editor of the Harvard Library
Bulletin.
 
After the morning's panel discussion, attendees are invited to a special
tour of the Department of Rare Books and Manuscripts at the Boston Public
Library, given by Curator of Manuscripts, Earle Havens. Mr.
Havens will draw special attention to collections that have suffered losses
and thefts before coming to the Boston Public Library, including the
personal library of John Adams, and the library of Thomas Prince, two of the
earliest and largest private library collections in America, as well as the
personal manuscript collection of Mellen Chamberlain, Librarian of the
Boston Public Library, 1878-90. 
 
DECLARED LOST is organized by the Book and Library Committee of SAFE/Saving
Antiquities for Everyone, a group of advertising, media, and communications
professionals working with experts from the academic and museum communities
to end the destruction of our shared cultural heritage and undiscovered past
by raising public awareness.
 
Attendance at the panel discussion and in the tour is free. Preregistration
for the tour is required.
 
Please contact Committee co-chairs Irina Tarsis
(itarsis at savingantiquities.org) or Matthew Battles
(mbattles at fas.harvard.edu) for further information on DECLARED LOST and to
confirm your attendance. For directions to the Boston Public Library, see
www.bpl.org; for more information on this and other SAFE programs, please
visit www.savingantiquities.org.