2 men guilty of stealing more than $8 million in rare items from Carnegie Library

PITTSBURGH — Two men have pleaded guilty to a multi-million dollar theft of rare books and items from the Carnegie Library.

Former Chief Archivist for the Oliver Room, Greg Piore, and Caliban book shop owner, John Schulman, were in court on Monday where they pleaded to reduced charges in the case that prosecutors said spanned more than two decades.

Investigators said Priore would take items from the rare book room at the Carnegie Library, walk down Forbes Avenue, up Craig Street to the book store where the items were eventually sold.

They’ll be sentenced in April.

CLICK HERE for a full list of the stolen items

Some of the items stolen over $100,000 include:

• George Washington “The Journal of...” worth $250,000
• George Washington; Abraham Lincoln, et al. “Some Men of Fame: Their Portraits and Autographed Letters” worth $100,000
• James Lewis “The Aboriginal Port-Folio” worth $110,000
• Daniel Giraud Elliot “Monograph of the Paradiseidae, or Birds of Paradise” worth $100,000
• Ferdinand V. Hayden “The Yellowstone National Park, and the Mountain Regions of Portions of Idaho, Nevada, Colorado and Utah” worth $165,000
• George Catlin “Catlin’s North American Indian Portfolio” worth $175,000
• George H.V. Collot “Voyage Dans L’Amerique Septentrionale” worth $275,000
• Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied, Prince; Karl Bodmer “Reise in das Innere Nord-America...” worth $1,200,000
• Ptolemy “La Geografia...” worth $115,000
• Thomas Jefferys “The American Atlas” worth $120,000
• Thomas L. McKenney and James Hall “History of the Indian Tribes of North America” worth $181,500
• Etianne Claviere and J.P. Brissot de Warville “De la France et des Etats-Unis” worth $100,000
• Isacc Newton “Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica” worth $900,000
• Edward S. Curtis “The North American Indian..." worth $540,000
• Giovanni Piranesi [Opere] worth $600,000
• Jan & Willem Blaeu “Theatrum Orbis Terrarum” worth $200,000
• Jodocus Hondius & Gerard Mercator “Atlas Sive Cosmographicae” worth $180,000
• Nicolaus Visscher “Atlas Minor” $200,000

Oakland library investigating multimillion-dollar theft of rare collection Oakland library investigating multimillion-dollar theft of rare collection

© 2020 Cox Media Group