In the course of this last week, a serious theft has occurred at the Royal Library.


Tuesday, January 30 and Wednesday, January 31, in several of the reading rooms, all of
which have both staff and video surveillance, a man of foreign background, presumably
English, managed to mutilate, i.e. cut out 11 valuable maps, a number of bound folio
atlases and works of descriptive geography found in the older collections of the library.
Each of the maps, which were found in folio works printed between 1600 and 1650, is
marked individually with the stamp of the library. The maps are not of an exceptional nature,
but are still maps of great antiquarian value on the international market, especially if sold
individually. Two are maps of the world, and nine have America as the central motif.

The sequence of events is completely clear, but the perpetrator, who may be one of a band
of three men in their forties or fifties, has not yet been apprehended. The theft was carried
out most professionally in almost every way, and despite intensive surveillance, the
perpetrator succeeded in a way that bears similaritities to an advanced form of subterfuge.
In all reading rooms there is, in addition to surveillance by personnel, constant video
surveillance by several cameras, and these security measures have provided both a clear
description of the perpetrator and sufficient evidence of his efforts. The library is thus in
possession of photographic documentation of the perpetrator and the stolen maps. Had
such a theft or a similar mutilation taken place prior to the remodeling of the Royal Library,
solving the matter would have been considerably more difficult without the current security
systems. The case is being handled by the Copenhagen Police Department.

Can you help us?

http://www.kb.dk/tyveri/index-en.htm  for photograph of a possible suspect.



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