blog post
librarians fight crime!
posted by Jessica on July, 12
Not all book worms get to be Indiana Jones, but some do fight for justice!
On June 16, a none-too-smart British man walked into the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington D.C. with one of Shakespeare's precious First Folios (only 230 copies in the world) and asked the librarians there - a collection of world-class Shakespeare experts - to determine the book's value. Smooth move, idiot. The librarians examined the book and realized that this First Folio had been stolen from Durham University in 1998, so they called the FBI!
A great article in the Washington Post asks this important question, "Why would someone bring a stolen Shakespeare to the place where the theft was most likely to be detected?"
What do you think? Is this man the original thief? Evidence: he lives 15 miles from the scene of the crime in a house crammed with rare books.
Or is he a dupe who's been paid off? Evidence: he has a Ferrari parked in his driveway, and seriously, no one is that dumb, right? He must not have known it was stolen.
Or maybe he had a guilty conscience, and as a true book lover he had to return the folio? Either way, three cheers for the Folger librarians!
posted by Jessica on July, 12
Not all book worms get to be Indiana Jones, but some do fight for justice!
On June 16, a none-too-smart British man walked into the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington D.C. with one of Shakespeare's precious First Folios (only 230 copies in the world) and asked the librarians there - a collection of world-class Shakespeare experts - to determine the book's value. Smooth move, idiot. The librarians examined the book and realized that this First Folio had been stolen from Durham University in 1998, so they called the FBI!
A great article in the Washington Post asks this important question, "Why would someone bring a stolen Shakespeare to the place where the theft was most likely to be detected?"
What do you think? Is this man the original thief? Evidence: he lives 15 miles from the scene of the crime in a house crammed with rare books.
Or is he a dupe who's been paid off? Evidence: he has a Ferrari parked in his driveway, and seriously, no one is that dumb, right? He must not have known it was stolen.
Or maybe he had a guilty conscience, and as a true book lover he had to return the folio? Either way, three cheers for the Folger librarians!
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According to an article in The Shakespeare Post, officials at the UK's Durham University believe professionals with connections in the art world undertook the theft. This case should make for a very interesting book!
TV and books aside, most criminals are not masterminds. Most of the time, actually, they're just poor schmucks - at best, down on their luck; at worst, ill, addicted, or just flat out stupid.A dupe? No way. A guilty conscience? Possible but unlikely. Best guess? Someone who believes that, because pretty things exist, they should be his. Until he needs some more cash for the next pretty thing.
