The Map Thief (42 page)

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Authors: Michael Blanding

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already paid
 . . . $200,000 more:
Pizzano interview.

worth only $50,000 to 60,000 at most
:
Antique Map Price Record
database search; Martin Buonfiglio, affidavit, arrest warrant, New Haven Police Department, July 10, 2005.

Arkway had sold a copy
 . . . $125,000:
Antique Map Price Record
database search; Buonfiglio affidavit, arrest warrant.

guard opened a door
 . . . leave the library:
Beinecke Library security video, June 8, 2005; notes by Lynn Ieronimo, head of security, Beinecke Library;
Cordes interview; audio recording of Ellen Cordes in Z702
Is for Book Thief: The Role of Technical Services in Collection Security,
2011 RBMS Preconference, Rare Books and Manuscript Section, Association of College and Research Libraries, a division of the American Library Association, http://www.rbms.info/conferences/preconfdocs/2011/Talks/SeminarA.mp3.

“wind face”
:
Dennis Reinhartz,
Art of the Map,
10.

C
HAPTER
11

“dropped a file on my desk”
:
Stephen Kelleher, interview with the author.

share of war stories
:
Damon Katz, e-mail to the author, November 27, 2013; Justin Pritchard, “148 students graduate at Bishop Feehan in Attleboro,”
Providence Journal-Bulletin,
June 5, 1994; Doug Allan, “Pizza parlor fined for serving minors,”
Providence Journal-Bulletin,
March 18, 1999; Doane Hulick, “Driver fired on by police held at ACI,”
Providence Journal-Bulletin,
January 30, 2001; “Weddings,”
Providence Journal-Bulletin,
September 9, 2001; Richard C. Dujardin, “Police promoted, honored for valor,”
Providence Journal-Bulletin,
March 1, 2002; Gregory Smith, “Two injured when car rams cruiser,”
Providence Journal-Bulletin,
July 2, 2003.

drove from the New Haven
 . . . theft a federal offense:
Kelleher interview.

the de Jode map
:
Gerard de Jode, “Vniversi Orbis Sev Terreni Globi . . . ,” from
Speculum Orbis Terrarum,
Antwerp, 1578, Yale University Library, 1976 Folio 2.

wormholes
:
LiveScience, “Medieval books hold suprising fossil record,” MSNBC.com, November 21, 2012.

Beinecke’s copy of the
Speculum
:
Gerard de Jode,
Speculum Orbis Terrarum,
Antwerp, 1578, Yale University Library, 1976 Folio 2.

Theft of Major Artwork Act
:
18 US Code, sec. 668, “Theft of major artwork”; Lynne Chaffinch, “The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Art Theft Program,”
The Silver Lining: Coping with Theft, Vandalism, Deterioration, and Bad Press,
Library of Congress publications, http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/presidents/chap10.html.

only one of eight maps
:
Buonfiglio affidavit.

introduced him to dealer Bill Reese
:
Kelleher interview; Schroeder and Reese interviews.

post to ExLibris
:
Everett Wilkie, “Recent Map Thefts,” MapHist Listserv, July 6, 2005.

first appearance
:
Kim Martineau, “Antique map theft charged: dealer’s bail set in incidents at Yale Library,”
Hartford Courant,
July 9, 2005; “Casting words: on the library crimes beat,” GSLIScast, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Simmons College, February 26, 2007, http://gslis.simmons.edu/podcasts; Eric Gershon, “Map dealer charged in theft,”
Cape Cod Times,
July 10, 2005; Jeff Muskus, “Art dealer charged in Beinecke thefts,”
Yale Daily News,
July 12, 2005; Nelson Sigelman, “Chilmark man charged in Yale library map thefts,”
Martha’s Vineyard
Times,
July 14, 2005.

“Da Vinci with a carving knife”
:
Kim Martineau, “Map of a crime: the arrest of antique map dealer E. Forbes Smiley III, left, has thrown the staid world of libraries and collectors into turmoil,”
Hartford Courant,
July 17, 2005.

“made me crazy”
:
Ibid.

Smiley’s friend Scott Slater
 . . . supported by crime:
Scott Slater and Felicity Slater interviews.

residents in Sebec were similarly sent reeling
:
Mallet and Lello interviews.

Moriartys
 . . . celebrated:
Kim Martineau, “From life among the elite to charges of theft,”
Hartford Courant,
October 25, 2005.

stunned, unable to breathe
:
Hudson interview.

renovations to Room 117
:
Glenn Collins, “Restoring vivid palette of library’s map chamber,”
The New York Times,
December 12, 2005.

called Kelleher immediately
 . . . “consider yourself at fault”:
Ron Grim, “For the record,” notes from phone conversation with Steve Kelleher, July 8, 2005; handwritten notes from phone conversation with Steve Kelleher, July 8, 2005; both from Norman B. Leventhal Map Center (LMC) archives at the Boston Public Library.

fielding calls from other libraries
:
Kelleher interview.

insisted he hire a private attorney
:
Slater and Statt interviews.

“You’re cooked”
 . . . “best to answer”:
Smiley interview. (Reeve did not respond to multiple requests for comment.)

devil’s bargain
 . . . for the federal government:
Kelleher interview; Christopher Schmeisser, interview with the author; United States’ Memorandum in Aid of Sentencing (22), September 20, 2006, US v. Edward Forbes Smiley, US District Court, District of Connecticut, Crim No. 3:06CR189, 6–8.

page through thousands of call slips
 . . . Grim later joked:
Grim interview.

two months and one hundred hours
:
Boston Public Library, “Impact of Smiley theft on rare books department,” undated, LMC archives.

ten items missing
:
Boston Public Library, “Status of Smiley inventory,” August 5, 2005, LMC archives.

dozen missing maps
:
Grim interview.

identified four books
:
Jim Akerman and Kelly McGrath, interviews with the author.

bad copy of John Smith’s map
:
Ralph Hall, “Virginia,” in Gerard Mercator,
Historia Mundi,
1636, Newberry Library, 3880 1636.H3.

Thornton map of South Carolina
:
John Thornton, “New map of the Cheif [
sic
] Rivers, Bayes, Creeks, Harbours, and Settlements of South Carolina,” in Frederik de Wit,
Atlas,
1694, Newberry Library, VAULT oversize Ayer 135 .W8 A, no. [141] (PrCt).

“lowest of the low”
:
Tonya Maxwell, “The story of a map quest, a notable dealer’s arrest—and now, a Chicago twist,”
Chicago Tribune,
August 6, 2005.

“Full disclosure will be embarrassing”
:
Robert Karrow, “A plea for full disclosure,” MapHist Listserv, August 13, 2005.

Alexander map of Canada (1624)
:
William Alexander, untitled, from
An Encouragement to Colonies,
London, 1624, British Library, G. 7139; Burden,
Mapping of North America,
(208), 257–258.

Best map of world (1578)
:
George Best, untitled, from
A True Discourse of the Late Voyages of Discouerie . . . ,
London, 1578, British Library, C.13.a.9; Kim Martineau and Lisa Chedekel, “Map thefts not so rare after all: several more
top-tier libraries report visits by accused dealer,”
Hartford Courant,
August 5, 2005.

Apian map of world (1520)
:
Peter Apian, “Tipus Orbis Universalis iuxta Ptolomei Cosmographi Traditonem . . . ,” from Caius Julius Solinus,
Ioannis Camertis . . . ,
Vienna, 1520, British Library, C.32.m.5(2); Lester,
Fourth Part of the World
, 376–377; Schwartz,
Putting “America” on the Map
, 127, 285.

provenance of this map
:
British Library, victim impact statement; British Library’s Sentencing Memorandum (19), US v. Smiley, 10–11.

only person who had looked at all these books
:
Peter Barber, Judith Barnes, and Bob Goldman interviews.

Boston Public also went public
:
Jenna Russell, “Dealer faces probe in map thefts: ‘perfect gentleman’ is charged in Conn.,”
The Boston Globe,
August 9, 2005; Christina Silva and Jenna Russell, “More maps turn up on list of missing,”
The Boston Globe,
August 10, 2005.

Smiley, too, kept quiet
:
Maxwell, “The story of a map quest.”

finally respond to the charges
:
Transcript, State of Connecticut v. Edward Forbes Smiley III, Superior Court, Judicial District of New Haven, Recorded by Tonia Speringo, August 9, 2005; Matt Apuzzo, “Collector pleads innocent to charges of stealing rare maps from library at Yale University,” Associated Press, August 9, 2005; Kim Martineau, “Map searches continue as expert pleads not guilty,”
Hartford Courant,
August 10, 2005; William Finnegan, “A theft in the library,”
The New Yorker,
October 17, 2005.

biannual International Conference
:
Finnegan, “A theft in the library.”

rumors swirled about
:
Anonymous author interviews. Smiley said the rumor about his son was untrue. Ashley Baynton-Williams and Barry MacLean declined comment on the facsimile rumor.

“personal betrayal was worse”
:
Newman interview.

loudest cries came from Tony Campbell
 . . . dealers could know what to watch out for:
Tony Campbell, interview with the author; Tony Campbell, “Issues arising out of the Smiley affair,” post to MapHist Listserv, August 12, 2005.

filed into the third-floor trustees’ room
 . . . share their experiences:
“Meeting of curators of map collections at public libraries and universities,” September 28, 2005, LMC archives.

Grim had completed his own review
:
“Subject inventory of missing items from publications used by Smiley at the Boston Public Library,” October 27, 2005, LMC archives.

Smiley had looked
 . . . during that period:
Ron Grim, memorandum to Bernard Margolis, Ruth Kownal, and Roni Pick, May 8, 2006, LMC archives.

sent the list to the FBI
:
Ron Grim, e-mail to Tony Campbell, June 22, 2006, LMC archives.

since Kelleher had started
 . . . the dealers themselves:
Kelleher interview.

All three dealers
 . . . acquiesced:
Kelleher, Schmeisser, and Newman interviews; Cohen and Burden interviews; Kim Martineau, “Rare documents going digital; Yale may join libraries using technology against theft of originals,” January 15, 2006.

Newman was asked
 . . . copy was missing?:
Newman interview; Alison Leigh
Cowan, “Thefts rattle the sedate world of rare maps,”
The New York Times,
October 3, 2005.

“not a bag lady”
:
Alison Leigh Cowan, “A rival is charged, and a map dealer wants to say, ‘Told you so,”
The New York Times,
October 20, 2005.

faxed a list of maps
:
Kit Schmeisser, fax to Boston Police, October 26, 2005.

portolan chart of the Atlantic
:
Grim and Kelleher interviews.

immediately seeing a map
:
“Doncker, Hendrick [Blaeu, Willem Janzzon], West-Indische Paskaert . . . 1659,” Richard B. Arkway, Inc., Catalog 59, 2003.

Grim went searching
:
Hendrick Doncker, “West Indische Paskaert,” 1655, Boston Public Library, Map 130.1655; Grim interview; catalog card on microfiche and call slip in LMC archives.

“sketchy information from the FBI”
:
Ron Grim, e-mail to Tony Campbell, June 22, 2006.

Sterling Memorial Library had no records
 . . . maps Smiley traded in:
Kaye, Miles, Parrish, Reese, and Schroeder interviews with the author; list of missing maps, undated, Sterling Memorial Library Map Collection archives; Kathrin Day Lassila, “Paper trail: close-ups—and some recent history of Sterling’s rare maps,”
Yale Alumni Magazine,
July–August 2007; Ross Goldberg, “Librarians say more maps are missing,”
Yale Daily News,
Sunday, July 30, 2006; Martineau, “Rare documents going digital”; Kim Martineau, “Gift to help Yale preserve its maps,”
Hartford Courant,
August 17, 2006. (Fred Musto did not return requests for comment.)

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