There it sat; red leather shining under the amber glow of the book shop’s lights. Peering through the window from the street it is clear there aren’t any cameras in the room. From behind the dusty glass the books give off a dark red aura. This is a small antiquarian bookshop on the west coast. There is no staff that is there every day. No cashiers standing behind a register; no security guards sitting behind a bank of monitors watching video feed of cameras pointed at all angles. The book shop is currently empty; dust glowing in the light from the window is the only inhabitant. Only three employees work here and two of them are the owners. The third employee is a cataloguer and a recent hire. Upon first casing this joint a couple of months ago, it was just the two owners who worked in the place. To view the books requires an appointment; this is because all the books in this antiquarian bookshop are so expensive and they have very little staff and next to zero security. They don’t allow walk-in customers. The ceilings are high and the shelves are filled with rarities; the entire collection in this bookshop has a value of over one million U.S dollars.
The goal, the target, is to get the Moroccan style red leather first edition box set of The Lord of the Rings, bound by the Chelsea Bindery; the collection is housed in a matching red leather slipcase. Published in 1954 and 1955 by George Allen and Unwin in the city of London, England. Of the three books, the second book in the collection, the Two Towers, is signed by J.R.R Tolkien himself. This increases the value up to $135,000. Unsigned the value is estimated around $30,000. This bookseller, lets call it Fireside Antiquarian Books, also has many other books of high value. There sitting on the shelves of this small antiquarian book shop nestled in a quiet little corner here on the streets of Portland, OR is a copy of The Hobbit valued at around $100,000. Tolkien books have incredible value due to the tremendous amount of cultural influence on the fantasy world. Even after nearly one hundred years the books are still popular, having spawned movies and television shows. Megan Alderfer, writing an article for Sotheby’s about the value of Tolkien’s works states “Over time, the popularity of Tolkien’s books has only grown as The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings were brought to the big screen. As a result, original manuscripts, first editions, and unique items tied to his stories continue to fetch towering prices and auctions”
Paper and Leather. Burnside Rare Books, Portland, Oregon.
Book repositories, libraries, archives, and antiquarian book stores often have little to no security, small staff, and priceless treasures just sitting on shelves. Travis McDade states in The Quiet Crime “Rare books, maps, and archival documents are the low-hanging fruit of the art world.” Rare books are low-hanging fruit because places that care for and sell these items rarely can afford to have high end security systems while also having a very small staff that is routinely underpaid. This antiquarian bookshop is no different. Because of this museums, libraries, and archives are often subjected to insider crime.
People with intimate knowledge of the building layout and security systems along with an understanding of inventory catalogues are often able to steal without crimes going noticed; oftentimes for decades. Steven P. Layne in writing in Exercises in Futility: The Pursuit of Protecting Art writes “In recent surveys of U.S. museums, most if not all of their recent thefts involved employees. If the missing art is removed from storage, or any area of the museum other than the exhibit area, the chances of a nonemployee or contractor being involved are slim.” The cataloguer was considered as a possible accomplice in this particular heist, yet having another set of eyes and knowledge of this crime dissuaded this notion. Especially as they are a new hire it is most likely they are not as jaded and disgruntled as the type of insiders who routinely commit these art crimes.
The plan was to go undercover into Fireside Antiquarian Books by setting up an appointment with the owners, so as to have a better understanding of the internal workings and layout of the bookshop. All that has to be done is a quick email and you are in their world.
There will be a requirement for a detailed blueprint of any possible hidden cameras or other forms of security. There is also a need to know the fastest route into and out of the bookstore and how that route associates with the location of The Lord of the Rings sitting in all its red leather bound glory upon the shelves of this little bookshop of wonders. Three beautiful books nestled together like diamonds in a jewelers case, only this case is leather and it sits openly on a shelf. Travis McDade is right; low-hanging fruit indeed.
While disguised as a potential buyer, the books that are the target of the heist would not be discussed. A purchase would be made of some lower value item so as not to arouse suspicion, all while taking detailed notes about the entrance and exits, the layout of the building and inventory, as well as any potential security risks.
Completing the initial reconnaissance was easy. Being a polite and engaged customer allowed for inside knowledge and having spent the last couple months on the streets staking out the daily routines of the employee and store owners would allow for the heist to go off without a hitch. Because a place like this lacks strong and high end security it is tempting to attempt a heist of this nature without performing due diligence.
But it is better to have planned and spent the time than to be in a hurry and have to do jail time. “The problem with planning a rare books heist, it seems to me, is not so much the theft itself, which anyone possessed of a little dexterity and a decent tote bag out to be able to pull off, but rather converting your hard work and criminal ingenuity to cash money” That is what Dwyer Murphy said in is essay titled A Visit to the Shadowy World of Rare Book Theft. Well maybe selling the books isn’t the goal; but to broaden and enrich a personal library? What to do with the stolen goods will come soon enough. On to the heist itself.
It was late; around 2:00 in the morning. The night was moonless and inky dark skies were obscured by cloud cover. The store was empty, filled with nothing but literary treasures. Dressed in all black nothing was uncovered. Black balaclava over a hair net, shoes, gloves, clothes, belt, and backpack all matching the darkness of the void. Even the vinyl gloves worn to get dressed were black and were being worn under the black gloves. Slipping a lock breaker bought online into the door handle allowed for quick and easy entrance. The room was beautiful; the books were calm and inviting. Walking over to the Lord of the Rings took but a few seconds. The book case was wrapped in plastic shrink wrap and then duct taped so as to just resemble a large lump, and then inserted into the backpack. After leaving by electric bike that was hidden near the back of the building, the heist lasted no longer than five minutes. Without a doubt, even if an alarm was triggered when the lock was broken and the door was opened; by the time anyone came to investigate the crime there was nobody to be found.
The consequences of such a theft can be hard on employees of places like this, and because these crimes are so often committed by insiders this is often where police will look first. In Picking up the Pieces: The Lengthy Saga of a Library Theft, Jean W. Ashton writes about the process police often put them through, “As might be expected, the internal consequences of our theft were distressing and unpleasant. Members of the staff were fingerprinted and questioned; lists of former employees were compiled and reviewed; security and lock-up practices were subjected to scrutiny.” This will give someone who isn’t on the inside time to hide, time to plan what to do with the stolen items. Police don’t even know where to begin to look. They may consider the owners in on the heist for insurance reasons, so an insurance adjuster along with law enforcement will have to be there investigating. Everyone is a possible suspect until they are able to prove otherwise.
In Bringing It All Back Home, Richard W. Oram and Ann Harley discuss some of the databases used for cataloging stolen books. “The databases of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America (ABAA) and the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB) are laudable in concept, but the ABAA database is still, at this writing, a relatively new effort that depends on the availability of staff time to keep the file current, and access to the ILAB database requires organizational membership” These databases are of some use but many books are able to slip through the cracks and because of logistical limits many booksellers may not even be able to access these databases many books are able to be sold legitimately. And because there are so many possible suspects; from crime bosses, local thieves, to the security guards of the museum, law enforcement rarely knows where to look if it isn’t an inside job.
Art crime itself is viewed as property crime and despite the cultural significance of artwork there is very little done about the black market for stolen artworks. Noah Charney in Art and Crime: Exploring the Dark Side of the Art World says “Art theft affects the art trade less than other categories of art crime, to a large extent because art is rarely offered on the art market” The same is true for stolen books. The black market for stolen artworks and books is thriving in the age of the internet. All someone has to do is find a dealer or collector who is willing to pay for an item they want. With the internet anonymity is nearly guaranteed.
Due diligence is often performed for artworks that are of high value that will be going in a museum. Artworks that aren’t going into a museum are often associated with shady provenance and therefore in order to turn a profit any sort of due diligence is not performed.
Robert Holly who wrote The Out-of-Print Book Market and the Theft of Library Materials discusses how the internet has allowed the black market to thrive “The internet has radically changed the market for out-of-print books by allowing anyone to become and internet vendor with a minimum of fuss….It is therefore possible to sell almost anything no matter what the subject, publication date, or condition. A thief can potentially sell any item stolen from a library. Potential sellers find few barriers to entering the market.”
Using the internet, especially the dark web, would allow for easy access for this copy of The Lord of the Rings to be sold, and even if it is sold for a fraction of the price it is still quite a nice sum.
There are other avenues for selling stolen books. In one of the greatest book theft cases a man named Greg Priore stole millions of dollars worth of books from the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. He did this for nearly twenty five years without anyone figuring it out. Some of the books were hundreds of years old, many were considered priceless from a cultural heritage viewpoint, albeit they did have monetary value. He sold these books to an verified well known rare book dealer who owned Caliban Book Shop, a well respected spot. The owner of the bookshop was named John Schulman and he would take the stolen books and create false provenance and then cover up any library markings then sell the books.
Because the books came from a reputable seller, auctions rarely batted an eye. McDade in his article The inside Story of the 25-Year, $8 Million Heist from the Carnegie Library writes that “Priore simply could not have operated without Schulman’s help and good name–and Schulman could not have gained access to the Oliver Room’s big ticket items without Priore.” With access to the internet it isn’t outside the realm of possibilities to find contacts such as the partnership between Priore and Schulman. Selling a stolen book from a small shop on the west coast to a dealer on the east coast or across a major ocean is entirely plausible now that the world is so connected and the black market so accessible.
My dear reader, this copy of The Lord of the Rings will remain in a private collector’s possession as I have decided to keep this beautiful work of literary art. Sitting here holding the red Moroccan leather bound edition of The Lord of the Rings, valued at one hundred and thirty five thousand dollars, feels like I am holding a piece of history. This is priceless to me and I doubt I will ever sell the books. I might shop around, spend a decade with them, then find some dealer who is willing to make a quick profit. Some treasures are worth the risk. Writing this memoir is a personal confession and keepsake. I’ve heard that publishing accounts like this can be lucrative on their own, maybe I will sell a book. After I write it. The names of locations have been changed for reasons of anonymity.
-S
Works Cited
Charney, Noah. “Four Art Crimes and Their Effect on the Art Trade”, Art and Crime Exploring the Dark Side of the Art World. Praeger, 2009. Print.
Grotta, Daniel. The Biography of J.R.R Tolkien, Running Press, 1976
McDade, Travis. “The Quiet Crime: An Introduction to the World of Rare Book, Map, and Document Theft”, Art and Crime Exploring the Dark Side of the Art World Praeger, 2009. Print.
McDade, Travis. “The inside Story of the 25-Year, $8 Million Heist from the Carnegie Library | Smithsonian.” Smithsonian Magazine, Sept. 2020.
Alderfer, Megan. “Lord of the Rings to the Hobbit: The Most Valuable Tolkien Works of All Time.” Sothebys.Com, 20 Mar. 2025, www.sothebys.com/en/articles/lord-of-the-rings-to-the-hobbit-the-most-valuable-tolkien-of-all-time.
Layne, Steven P. “Exercises in Futility: The Pursuit of Protecting Art”, Art and Crime Exploring the Dark Side of the Art World, Praeger, 2009. Print.
Murphy, Dwyer. “A Visit to the Shadowy World of Rare Book Theft”. Literary Hub, 2019. lithub.com/a-visit-to-the-shadowy-world-of-rare-book-theft/
Ashton, J.W. and Merill, A. T. “Picking Up the Pieces: The Lengthy Saga of a Library Theft”, The Strategic Stewardship of Cultural Resources: To Preserve and Protect. Routledge
Holly, Robert P. The Out-of-Print Book Market and the Theft of Library Materials, Purdue University, 2009. Print.