Stolen rare maps, writings are recovered in Denmark

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — In a breakthrough on solving a 25-year-old crime, investigators have uncovered 1,600 antique books, maps and documents stolen from Denmark’s Royal Library. Four suspects were detained, police said Wednesday.

The thefts of the works, worth millions of dollars, started in the late ’60s and continued until 1978, said Erland Kolding Nielsen, director general of the state-owned library.

"It is without any doubt one of the largest thefts of cultural artifacts in Denmark, ever," he said.

Over the years, about 3,200 rare books and documents — including first editions by Immanuel Kant, Thomas More, John Milton and several hundreds prints by Martin Luther —disappeared from the downtown library.

Until recently, the Royal Library and the Danish police were without a clue in the theft of the works, dating from the 16th century to the 18th century.

A breakthrough came in Britain some months ago when a number of valuable works were sent to an auctioneer, the head librarian said. He said the items were worth between $323,000 and $488,000, but gave no other details.

The Royal Library was alerted, identified the books and contacted Danish police.

Copenhagen police spokesman Henrik Svindt said 1,600 of the missing books and other items had been rounded up in Denmark and elsewhere. He did not identify the suspects, or reveal how many books had been sold or who bought them.

The investigation with the Royal Library started three months ago and is ongoing, said Svindt, who refused to comment on media reports that three of those in custody included the widow of a former Royal Library worker, her son and daughter-in-law.

The 68-year-old widow reportedly was arrested when she tried to sell some of the documents through an auctioneer, the newspaper Politiken reported. Her husband, who died last year, worked for decades as a philologist with the library’s Oriental collection.

Besides first editions by More, Milton and Kant, the stolen documents also included atlases by Dutch cartographer Willem Blaeu.

The Royal Library, housed since 1999 in a smoked-glass-and-steel building known as the Black Diamond on the city’s waterfront, has existed as a national library and a museum since 1648 and as the main library for the University of Copenhagen since 1927.