Map Theft
Jul 11th, 2005, 07:49 AM
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 120
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Map Theft
Although at first glance, this might not seem like a topic that is appropriate for a travel forum, I think it has some relevance.
A couple of weeks ago there were some posts about purchasing maps overseas for souvenirs. I was a little troubled by the post because often authentic maps come from books. The maps alone have a greater monetary value than in a book, yet the books provide all of the contextual value to the map.
I thought I would share this article with the Fodors community as a cautionary tale for map collectors.
Dealer's Bail Set In Incidents At Yale Library
By KIM MARTINEAU
Courant Staff Writer
July 9, 2005
NEW HAVEN -- The theft of rare maps was first suspected last month when a Yale University librarian found the blade of an X-Acto knife on a reading room floor.
Now a prominent dealer in antique atlases and maps has been charged with stealing several irreplaceable maps from Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library - including a rare map of early New England.
E. Forbes Smiley III, 49, a longtime map dealer in New York City who now lives on Martha's Vineyard, appeared in Superior Court Friday on three larceny charges. Wearing khakis and a tweedy blazer, he cut an image of the absent-minded professor, except for the metal shackles that hung around his ankles.
Judge Richard Damiani set bail at $175,000 and ordered Smiley not to leave the country.
In an e-mail sent to members of the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers, the FBI also has warned that Smiley may have targeted other libraries that are now discovering maps missing from their collections.
The news has stunned the small, closely knit world of those who deal in the maps that chronicle the great age of exploration, showing what
people knew and didn't know about the world at various moments in history. The allegations against Smiley sound like something out of Miles
Harvey's 2001 best-seller, "The Island of Lost Maps," which detailed the exploits of a notorious map thief. It is one more stain on a business already reeling from bad publicity.
"Dealers have a very close relationship with scholars, curators, and this casts a shadow on all that," said Robert Augustyn, an owner of Martayan Lan, a major dealer in antique maps based in Manhattan.
Among his accomplishments, Smiley helped the New York Public Library build its Lawrence Slaughter collection of English maps, charts, atlases, globes and books tied to Colonial North America and also played a role in helping the Boston Public Library add to its collection.
The theft of the Yale maps was first suspected on the morning of June 8 when a librarian at the Beinecke library discovered the X-Acto blade on the floor of the library's reading room, according to the arrest
warrant outlining the allegations against Smiley.
The librarian picked up the knife and alerted her supervisor, who toured the room and spotted a man poring over rare maps. Officials checked the library's register and identified the man as Smiley. They called
Yale's other library, Sterling Memorial, and discovered he was a suspect in another alleged theft of rare documents that was never reported, according to the warrant.
A guard switched on the library's security cameras and kept a close eye on Smiley. When the map dealer started fidgeting with the inside of his pocket, the guard called Yale police, the warrant states.
An hour later, when Smiley walked out of the library, a detective was there to trail him to the gift shop at the British Art Museum, then into the museum. After Smiley checked his briefcase, Det. Martin Buonfiglio
confronted Smiley with the X-Acto blade and asked if the knife belonged to him.
"Yes it is," he replied nervous, according to the warrant. "I must have dropped it. I have a cold." The librarians had wrapped the tool in tissue.
Buonfiglio asked to look in Smiley's briefcase. There he found seven rare maps worth more than $700,000, the warrant states. Smiley and the
detective walked back to the Beinecke library, where the librarians had pulled the books that Smiley had checked out to the reading room. One
book, "Advertisements for the Unexperienced Planters of New England," was missing its map.
The map was drawn by Capt. John Smith, the founder of Jamestown. Published in 1614, it is one of the earliest accurate maps of New England,
according to dealers. Stamped in the map's upper corner is a portrait of Smith.
After further questioning, Smiley fished the map, which is worth $50,000, out of the inside pocket of his blazer, police said. He was charged
in late June in connection with the Smith map, and later charged with stealing other Beinecke maps, the warrant states.
In one case, the library security camera caught him removing a map called "Vniversi Orbis" from a book, the affidavit said. The map is valued at $150,000.
The other Yale maps identified as "Typvs Orbis Terrarvm" and "Part of American Part of China," together worth nearly $130,000, were also recovered, police said.
This is not the first time that valuable artifacts have been stolen from the Beinecke library. In 2001 a library employee stole documents
worth an estimated $1.5 million, including the signatures of Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, Sir Isaac Newton, John Hancock and Thomas
Jefferson.
Yale officials declined to discuss the security measures at the
library.
Investigators are still trying to locate the previous owners of other
maps found in Smiley's briefcase, including "Septentrio vniuersalis
descriptio" worth an estimated $500,000, said Lt. Mike Patten, a Yale
spokesman.
Smiley lives in Chilmark, Mass., on Martha's Vineyard, in a home he
recently built. He learned the trade while working in the map room of New
York's legendary department store, B. Altman's, according to those who know him. After the store closed, he ran his own business, then ultimately relocated it to Martha's Vineyard.
Neither Smiley nor his lawyer returned calls for comment.
Map collecting has grown in popularity over the last 25 years, and with the demand, prices have been driven up, dealers say.
"I think there are certain bibliomaniacs out there who might steal to own," said Ken Nebenzahl, an Illinois dealer and author. "But I think most of the thefts I've known about over the last 48 years have been for
money - for greed."
Copyright 2005, Hartford Courant
--------------------
Visit www.courant.com for Connecticut news updates, sports stories,
entertainment listings and classifieds.
(BTW, I'm not trying to start trouble! Just to bring light to a terrible theft--this man was not just stealing from Yale, he was stealing from future generations of researchers, students, Americans, who will never have access to the maps and the information they contained)
A couple of weeks ago there were some posts about purchasing maps overseas for souvenirs. I was a little troubled by the post because often authentic maps come from books. The maps alone have a greater monetary value than in a book, yet the books provide all of the contextual value to the map.
I thought I would share this article with the Fodors community as a cautionary tale for map collectors.
Dealer's Bail Set In Incidents At Yale Library
By KIM MARTINEAU
Courant Staff Writer
July 9, 2005
NEW HAVEN -- The theft of rare maps was first suspected last month when a Yale University librarian found the blade of an X-Acto knife on a reading room floor.
Now a prominent dealer in antique atlases and maps has been charged with stealing several irreplaceable maps from Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library - including a rare map of early New England.
E. Forbes Smiley III, 49, a longtime map dealer in New York City who now lives on Martha's Vineyard, appeared in Superior Court Friday on three larceny charges. Wearing khakis and a tweedy blazer, he cut an image of the absent-minded professor, except for the metal shackles that hung around his ankles.
Judge Richard Damiani set bail at $175,000 and ordered Smiley not to leave the country.
In an e-mail sent to members of the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers, the FBI also has warned that Smiley may have targeted other libraries that are now discovering maps missing from their collections.
The news has stunned the small, closely knit world of those who deal in the maps that chronicle the great age of exploration, showing what
people knew and didn't know about the world at various moments in history. The allegations against Smiley sound like something out of Miles
Harvey's 2001 best-seller, "The Island of Lost Maps," which detailed the exploits of a notorious map thief. It is one more stain on a business already reeling from bad publicity.
"Dealers have a very close relationship with scholars, curators, and this casts a shadow on all that," said Robert Augustyn, an owner of Martayan Lan, a major dealer in antique maps based in Manhattan.
Among his accomplishments, Smiley helped the New York Public Library build its Lawrence Slaughter collection of English maps, charts, atlases, globes and books tied to Colonial North America and also played a role in helping the Boston Public Library add to its collection.
The theft of the Yale maps was first suspected on the morning of June 8 when a librarian at the Beinecke library discovered the X-Acto blade on the floor of the library's reading room, according to the arrest
warrant outlining the allegations against Smiley.
The librarian picked up the knife and alerted her supervisor, who toured the room and spotted a man poring over rare maps. Officials checked the library's register and identified the man as Smiley. They called
Yale's other library, Sterling Memorial, and discovered he was a suspect in another alleged theft of rare documents that was never reported, according to the warrant.
A guard switched on the library's security cameras and kept a close eye on Smiley. When the map dealer started fidgeting with the inside of his pocket, the guard called Yale police, the warrant states.
An hour later, when Smiley walked out of the library, a detective was there to trail him to the gift shop at the British Art Museum, then into the museum. After Smiley checked his briefcase, Det. Martin Buonfiglio
confronted Smiley with the X-Acto blade and asked if the knife belonged to him.
"Yes it is," he replied nervous, according to the warrant. "I must have dropped it. I have a cold." The librarians had wrapped the tool in tissue.
Buonfiglio asked to look in Smiley's briefcase. There he found seven rare maps worth more than $700,000, the warrant states. Smiley and the
detective walked back to the Beinecke library, where the librarians had pulled the books that Smiley had checked out to the reading room. One
book, "Advertisements for the Unexperienced Planters of New England," was missing its map.
The map was drawn by Capt. John Smith, the founder of Jamestown. Published in 1614, it is one of the earliest accurate maps of New England,
according to dealers. Stamped in the map's upper corner is a portrait of Smith.
After further questioning, Smiley fished the map, which is worth $50,000, out of the inside pocket of his blazer, police said. He was charged
in late June in connection with the Smith map, and later charged with stealing other Beinecke maps, the warrant states.
In one case, the library security camera caught him removing a map called "Vniversi Orbis" from a book, the affidavit said. The map is valued at $150,000.
The other Yale maps identified as "Typvs Orbis Terrarvm" and "Part of American Part of China," together worth nearly $130,000, were also recovered, police said.
This is not the first time that valuable artifacts have been stolen from the Beinecke library. In 2001 a library employee stole documents
worth an estimated $1.5 million, including the signatures of Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, Sir Isaac Newton, John Hancock and Thomas
Jefferson.
Yale officials declined to discuss the security measures at the
library.
Investigators are still trying to locate the previous owners of other
maps found in Smiley's briefcase, including "Septentrio vniuersalis
descriptio" worth an estimated $500,000, said Lt. Mike Patten, a Yale
spokesman.
Smiley lives in Chilmark, Mass., on Martha's Vineyard, in a home he
recently built. He learned the trade while working in the map room of New
York's legendary department store, B. Altman's, according to those who know him. After the store closed, he ran his own business, then ultimately relocated it to Martha's Vineyard.
Neither Smiley nor his lawyer returned calls for comment.
Map collecting has grown in popularity over the last 25 years, and with the demand, prices have been driven up, dealers say.
"I think there are certain bibliomaniacs out there who might steal to own," said Ken Nebenzahl, an Illinois dealer and author. "But I think most of the thefts I've known about over the last 48 years have been for
money - for greed."
Copyright 2005, Hartford Courant
--------------------
Visit www.courant.com for Connecticut news updates, sports stories,
entertainment listings and classifieds.
(BTW, I'm not trying to start trouble! Just to bring light to a terrible theft--this man was not just stealing from Yale, he was stealing from future generations of researchers, students, Americans, who will never have access to the maps and the information they contained)
Jul 11th, 2005, 01:57 PM
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 120
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Thanks Ira, Mea culpa. I posted this morning in a fury--the entire article was posted to a list serv that I subscribe to and I just dashed off my fodors post before I left the house.
Jul 11th, 2005, 02:33 PM
#6
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 4,247
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Actually posting a copyrighted piece is perfectly legal if it falls under the Fair Use section of the code>
§ 107. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use
Release date: 2004-04-30
Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include—
(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;
(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.
§ 107. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use
Release date: 2004-04-30
Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include—
(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;
(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.
Jul 11th, 2005, 03:06 PM
#8
Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 45,322
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Hello Eliza, I am certainly not an expert on copyright rules but I personally feel that your thread was informative and interesting. And how disgusting that people would do this. I understand your concern and outrage.
Thank you from someone that loves maps and truly resents anyone that would cut maps out of reference books for their own monetary gain. Best wishes.
Thank you from someone that loves maps and truly resents anyone that would cut maps out of reference books for their own monetary gain. Best wishes.
Thread
Original Poster
Forum
Replies
Last Post
sandypaws3
Europe
4
Jan 26th, 2005 06:41 AM
