A worldwide, decade-old search for a rare Shakespearean treasure, revived at a Washington library two weeks ago, led to the arrest of a suspect in England on Thursday.
The latest chapter in the dramatic story unfolded June 16, when the suspect brought a book to Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington. Library staffers quickly realized it was a 1623 First Folio edition of Shakespeare’s collected works.
“There are only 240 copies in the world, and most of those copies are with collections or private dealers.” said Garland Scott, the library’s spokeswoman. “It’s unusual for someone just to walk in from the street with a First Folio.”
Staffers asked to keep the book while they conducted research. They discovered the book was the edition that was stolen from the Durham University library in England in 1998 and is worth an estimated $2.5 million. The library alerted the FBI.
FBI officials contacted the British Embassy, which notified the Durham police.
Durham police said an international manhunt led them to raid a property close to nearby Durham University on Thursday, where they arrested the 51-year-old man, who remains in custody. The suspect said he was an international businessman and that he bought the volume while traveling in Cuba.
The Folger Library is keeping the book in a climate-controlled vault, according to Durham police, who told the British media that officials thought it would be safer there than in “an FBI warehouse next to piles of cocaine and cannabis.”
Durham University officials were thrilled that what they called a “national treasure” would be returned. “It’s clearly hard to take in, having not been around for 10 years, but we’re absolutely delighted at the prospect of it being returned to Durham,” said John Hall, a university librarian. He estimated that there are fewer than 250 known copies of the book.
The volume was stolen with six other rare manuscripts and books at a December 1998 public display. Hall said the library has improved its security vastly since then.
“We totally reviewed our security procedures and completely changed the way we put on exhibitions,” he said. “We now tend not to display the originals but facsimiles, and if any originals were on display, they would be taken off the cases at night.”
