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Stolen Books

here was an interesting article about probably the biggest rare Schulman which was within walking distance of the Oliver Room.
book theft in the last hundred years in the December 18, 2020 Caliban had a good reputation and Schulman had even been one of the
Tissue of The Week news magazine which was abridged from the appraisers on Antiques Roadshow. So those two had a good thing going for
article by Travis McDade in the September 2000 Smithsonian Magazine. them for years. The stolen items were even stamped with a fake
The Oliver Room in the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh has (or had) withdrawn from the Oliver Library stamp to make it look legit.
just incalculable rare books. As you might expect, security is high, there It was just astonishing that no one had noticed anything in probably
is only one entrance, people had to check-in at the door and be under the 20 years!
watchful eye of the manager Greg Priore. Priore had held that position Perhaps the only thing more stunning than the crime of stealing –
since 1992 and everyone knew him and trusted him. stealing and desecrating all these rare treasures, which was a loss not only
The treasures in the Oliver Room were jaw-droppingly rare, including to the library and its patrons but to our culture as a whole. Some of these
40 volumes of Edward Curtis’ Photographs of North American Indians books had survived intact for hundreds of years, only to be gutted and
done in the early 1900s, a copy of the 1644 Blaeu Atlas with 276 hand- disemboweled by greed.
colored maps, Audubon’s Quadrupeds of North America with 108 hand- So after ruining all these wonderful books, Priore was sentenced to
colored lithographs. Not to mention McKinney and Hall’s History of three years house arrest and 12 years probation; Schulman got 4 years
Indian Tribes of North America house arrest and 12 years proba-
with 120 hand-colored lithographs tion. To say they got off lightly is
published in 1821 and Ptolemy’s somewhat of an understatement.
geography printed in 1548 and on How many of us might be tempted
and on. Books like these are a gold by serving a few years probation in
mine of wonderful maps and return for millions of dollars?
engravings which collectors love The so-called punishment was
and so there is a big market for the basically a slap on the wrist. Priore
individual maps and plates usually issued a statement that he was sorry
removed from damaged or incom- for what he had done but whether
plete copies. Usually. he meant that he was sorry for
In 2016, the Directors of the stealing the books or sorry that he
library decided to do a new inven- had gotten caught is not clear. Of
tory as one hadn’t been done since course, he did not get $8 million
1991. Since the inventory was long for the books as that was their
overdue, it was curious that Priore replacement value if they could
tried hard to talk them out of have been replaced. But he must
doing it and of course, no one The Accused have done pretty good. His moti-
understood why. That is until vation was apparently to keep
about an hour into the new inven- Gregory Priore, 61 (left) and John Schulman, 54 (right) have pled his four children in very expensive
tory when it was discovered that Guilty to the taking of more than $8 million worth of rare books private schools.
books had the beautiful plates and and parts of books from the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and then I don’t know why but it seems
maps stripped from them or were selling them to collectors. like crimes of this sort involving
completely missing. Many of the “Greg Priore, 63, of Oakland who worked as the sole archivist and books—even super rare and valu-
books had been gutted so that manager of the the library’s rare book room, and John Schulman, able books—are not seriously
only the sagging, empty bindings 56, of Squirrel Hill, who owns Caliban Book Shop, will be sentenced regarded in the criminal justice
remained on the shelves. by Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Alexander P. Bicket system. It’s almost like, “all the guy
Thousands of plates and maps on April 17. stole was a few old books, what’s
were missing. It had to be an inside “Mr. Priore, who admitted in statements to police his role in the the big deal?” The “punishment”
job and obviously, Priore was crime, pleaded guilty to theft and receiving stolen property — both was hardly a deterrent! It seems
suspected. At first, he tried to give first-degree felonies. that the rule is the more you steal,
reasons why certain books weren’t “Mr. Schulman, who investigators said would receive the stolen the lighter in proportion is your
on the shelves, that they were out items from Mr. Priore and then sell them to collectors through sentence. Apparently, if you are
being repaired or on loan, and so his store and online, pleaded guilty to receiving stolen property, going to steal something, it’s better
forth, but there was too much theft by deception and forgery.” – The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, to steal a million dollars than a pair
missing for those arguments to February 2, 2021 of shoes as you’d likely be in more
hold. Of course, Priore was fired. trouble about the shoes!
The value of the stolen or damaged books was easily $8 million, but
that wasn’t the whole story because many of the books were so rare I hope they took Priore’s library card away.
they weren’t replaceable at any price even if you
had the money. A few of the books have been James Dawson has owned and operated the Unicorn Bookshop in Trappe, MD since 1975, when he decided
recovered but most are gone forever. And where that it would be more fun to buy and sell old books and maps than to get a “real” job. For a born collector like
had the stolen items gone? Priore had been selling Jim, having a shop just might be another excuse to buy more books. He has about 30,000 second hand and rare
books on the shelves, and just about all subjects are represented. He can be contacted at P.O. Box 154; Trappe,
them to Caliban Book Shop owned by John MD 21673; 410-476-3838; unicornbookshopMD@gmail.com; www.unicornbookshop.com

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