Hunting Stolen Books

The English historian and cartographer John Speed (1552–1629) first published his maps of the counties of Britain and Ireland in 1611, and in 1627 he published an atlas of the world.

This 1676 book incorporates Speed’s two great works into one beautifully printed atlas.

There are at least 54 surviving copies of this book spread across the world. Our copy was stolen in 1976. The thief was caught red-handed by a member of An Garda Siochána who was on patrol outside the Library, and received a sentence of 12 months’ imprisonment.

Citation: 3. John Speed, The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine … As also A Prospect of the most Famous Parts of the World (London, 1676).,
Marsh's Library Exhibits, accessed December 21, 2024,
https://dev.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/stolen-books#405

These original texts about the life of Jesus Christ were translated into English by the Dublin linguist and scholar, Dudley Loftus (1619–95).

Loftus was a personal friend of the founder of this library, Archbishop Narcissus Marsh, and the inscription at the bottom of the title page records that this copy was a gift from Loftus to Marsh.

This copy was offered for sale by a London bookseller in 1982 for £20. The bookseller’s catalogue noted that there was only one known copy in the world, that in Marsh’s Library. The bookseller should have been suspicious that this was not a previously unknown second copy because it is clear a library stamp has been removed from the left-hand side of the title page, and replaced with a circular piece of paper. A pencil was then used to try to fill in the text destroyed by the removal of the stamp.

The Library bought this back from the bookseller. He could only say that he received it ‘from an Irishman’ he had never seen before.

Citation: 4. A Clear and Learned Explication of the History of Our Blessed Saviour Jesus Christ (Dublin, 1695).,
Marsh's Library Exhibits, accessed December 21, 2024,
https://dev.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/stolen-books#406

Claudius Galenus (better known simply as ‘Galen’) was a Greek-born medic of the Roman Empire of the second century AD. His writings about anatomy and physiology were accepted as fact until the middle of the sixteenth century, and were familiar to medical students as late as the nineteenth century.

This book is one of a five volume set of Galen’s works produced in Basle in 1538. It was removed from the Library at some unknown point before 1995.

It was found by Patrick Gageby in a junk shop in Harold’s Cross, Dublin, in 2012. After purchasing the volume, Mr Gageby noticed the stamp of Marsh’s Library inside the book, and returned it to us. The story of his remarkable find is told by Amanda Bell in The Lost Library Book (Oxford, 2017).

Citation: 5. Claudius Galenus, Opera omnia, 5 vols, (Basle, 1538).,
Marsh's Library Exhibits, accessed December 21, 2024,
https://dev.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/stolen-books#407

This schoolbook was designed to teach Latin to the boys of St Patrick’s Cathedral Grammar School, which was established in 1547.

This seems to be the only surviving copy of this edition in the world.

This book belonged to Archbishop Marsh and he usually wrote his personal motto in the top right-hand corner of a book’s title page. This is exactly where the page is torn. This was presumably done by the thief to remove evidence of prior ownership.

This book was marked as missing in 1828, and was presented to Marsh’s Library by Mr J. Drew Esq., on 5 May 1890.

Citation: 6. Peter Davys, Adminiculum puerile, or, an help for school boys...for the use of St. Patrick’s-school (Dublin, 1694).,
Marsh's Library Exhibits, accessed December 21, 2024,
https://dev.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/stolen-books#408

John Bale (1495–1563) was a Carmelite friar who embraced the Protestant Reformation. Bale’s writings attacked the Roman Catholic Church in very crude terms, and this item was no exception.

There are only three surviving copies of this book in the world: one each in Marsh’s Library, the British Library, and the Bodleian Library in Oxford.

This book was first noted as missing in 1767. In October 1841, Professor J.H. Todd of Trinity College Dublin wrote to Marsh’s to say that he had bought this volume ‘some time ago at a bookseller’s in Dublin, & upon examining it afterwards I have reason to think from the Library marks that are but imperfectly erased, that it was once in Marsh’s Library. If this be so will you have the goodness to return it to its place.’

Citation: 7.  A Comedy concernynge thre lawes, of nature Moses, & Christ, corrupted by the Sodomytes, Pharysees and Papystes ([Wesel], 1538 [i.e. 1548?]).,
Marsh's Library Exhibits, accessed December 21, 2024,
https://dev.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/stolen-books#409

Thomas Guidott (1638–1706) had a medical practice in the English city of Bath. This book helped to popularise the city as a health and leisure destination for the well-heeled of Restoration England.

The bottom half of the title-page is torn, presumably to remove an inscription or ownership mark which would have identified this as belonging to Marsh’s Library. This is a common feature of items stolen from rare book collections in libraries.

This book went missing between 1828 and 1840, and was subsequently found in James Cornish’s bookshop in Grafton Street and purchased for 1s. 6d.

Citation: 8. Thomas Guidott, A Discourse of Bathe, and the Hot Waters There. Also, Some Enquiries into the nature of the Water of St. Vincent’s Rock, near Bristol (London, 1676).,
Marsh's Library Exhibits, accessed December 21, 2024,
https://dev.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/stolen-books#410

The speeches of the Greek educator Isocrates (436–338 BC) were considered the epitome of the art of public oration and rhetoric.

This beautiful edition belonged to the first Keeper of Marsh’s Library, Elias Bouhéreau. It was noticed as missing in 1828, and in 1866 it was ‘recovered and replaced by purchase’ from an unknown source. The Library’s silence about the provenance of the item is unusual, and might suggest a desire not to embarrass a high-status individual.

Citation: 9. Isocrates, Orationes. Alcidamantis Contra Dicendi Magistros ([Venice, 1513]).,
Marsh's Library Exhibits, accessed December 21, 2024,
https://dev.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/stolen-books#411

This edition of the collected works of the Italian humanist poet Jacopo Sannazaro (1458–1530) was stolen from the Library before 1767. It was found in the bookshop of ‘Byrne’ in Morgan Place in Dublin by Robert Travers on 15 September 1849, and returned to the Library.

The thief had scratched out the Marsh’s Library shelf mark on the front inner board of the book, but Travers was able to identify this copy because the personal motto in Greek of Archbishop Marsh remained on the title page.

Citation: 10. Jacopo Sannazaro, Opera Omnia (Lyon, 1605).,
Marsh's Library Exhibits, accessed December 21, 2024,
https://dev.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/stolen-books#412

The book contains 35 provincial and county maps. 

Sir William Petty (1623–87) surveyed and mapped Ireland for the English Commonwealth during the 1650s. The process of mapping was linked to the Cromwellian land confiscations, and this 1689 edition also had political undertones in the context of the conflict then underway between the forces of William III and James II in Ireland.

This book may have been intended to help readers in England to follow the progress of the military campaigns in Ireland they were reading about in the press.

This copy was purchased in June 1925 to replace a copy noted as missing from Marsh’s Library in 1767.

Citation: 11. A Geographicall Description of ye Kingdom of Ireland. Collected from ye actual Survey made by Sr. William Petty corrected and amended (London, [1689]).,
Marsh's Library Exhibits, accessed December 21, 2024,
https://dev.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/stolen-books#413

This is Irish history told for an English audience through the lens of the ‘troubles’ of the 1640s and 1650s, and the subsequent confiscation of Irish Roman Catholic lands by the Crown.

This is not an exceptionally rare book, with at least 38 surviving copies divided roughly equally between Ireland, the UK, and the USA. Our copy was purchased in September 1927 to replace one noted as missing from Marsh’s Library in 1767.

Citation: 12. The Present state of Ireland: Together with some Remarques Upon the Antient State thereof. Likewise a Description of the Chief Towns: With a Map of the Kingdome (London, 1673).,
Marsh's Library Exhibits, accessed December 21, 2024,
https://dev.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/stolen-books#414

John K’eogh’s (1681–1754) complete list of plants in Ireland with medicinal uses was noteworthy for including the Irish language names of plants alongside the English and Latin.

Buckthorn is described as ‘extraordinary good against the bitings of all venomous Creatures, especially the bite of a mad Dog’.

Honeysuckle is ‘profitable for such as are troubled with Coughs, shortness of Breath and helps Women in hard Labour’.

There are at least 27 surviving copies of this book in the world, divided almost equally between Ireland and the USA. Our copy was purchased in September 1925 to replace one first listed as missing from Marsh’s Library in 1767.

Citation: 13. John K’eogh, Botanalogia Universalis Hibernica, Or, A General Irish Herbal Calculated for this Kingdom (Cork, 1735).,
Marsh's Library Exhibits, accessed December 21, 2024,
https://dev.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/stolen-books#415

The Dutch medic Gerard Boate (1604–50) was one of the ‘Adventurers’ who contributed money towards the reconquest of Ireland by the English parliament during the Civil Wars of the 1640s.

Boate’s Naturall History was intended to increase interest in the Adventurers’ fund-raising and encourage new settlers to emigrate to Ireland.

Boate’s book was dedicated to Oliver Cromwell and his son-in-law Charles Fleetwood. This copy was purchased in October 1925 to replace a book first listed as missing from Marsh’s Library in 1780.

Citation: 14. Gerard Boate, Ireland’s Naturall History. Being a true and ample Description of its Situation, Greatness, Shape, and Nature (London, 1652).,
Marsh's Library Exhibits, accessed December 21, 2024,
https://dev.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/stolen-books#416

Charles Smith (1715–62) was educated at Trinity College Dublin, and practised medicine in Dungarvan in Co. Waterford. He compiled histories of the counties of Cork, Down and Waterford. The Cork volume was first published in 1750, and boasted a number of fine maps and prints of the principal towns in the county.

There are at least 43 copies of this 1750 edition extant across the world, mainly in Ireland and the United States of America.

This copy was purchased by the Library in May 1927 to replace one which was first noted as missing in 1767.

Citation: 15. Charles Smith, The Antient and Present State of the County and City of Cork, in Four Books, 2 vols, (Dublin, 1750).,
Marsh's Library Exhibits, accessed December 21, 2024,
https://dev.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/stolen-books#417

The medic Edmund Borlase (1620–82) wrote this book to trace the history of Ireland’s conflicts with England. It ends in 1672 with Ireland finally pacified and reduced to obedience, and seeks to demonstrate the justness of England’s actions throughout.

At least 45 copies of this book survive across the world, mainly in Ireland, the UK, and the USA. This copy was bought in June 1925 to replace a book first noted as missing in 1828.

Citation: 16. Edmund Borlase, The Reduction of Ireland To the Crown of England. With the Governors since the Conquest by King Henry II... (London, 1675).,
Marsh's Library Exhibits, accessed December 21, 2024,
https://dev.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/stolen-books#418

The appearance of this book in English suggests it was aimed at readers who had not been formally educated in the classics, but wished to understand the background to ancient authors whom they intended to read in English.

Written by the Jesuit Pierre Gautruche (1602–81), it was first published in French in the city of Caen in 1645. There were many subsequent French-language editions. Three English-language editions were published in London between 1671 and 1674.

This copy was purchased in October 1936 to replace one which was first noted as missing from Marsh’s Library in 1767.

Citation: 17. Pierre Gautruche, The Poetical Histories, Being A Compleat Collection of all the Stories Necessary for a Perfect Understanding of the Greek and Latine poets, and other Ancient Authors, 2nd edn, (London, 1672).,
Marsh's Library Exhibits, accessed December 21, 2024,
https://dev.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/stolen-books#419

Basil Kennett (1674–1715) wished to encourage the study of the classics among members of the public who could not read Latin or Greek.

This copy was purchased in September 1936 to replace one listed as missing since 1767. If the person who purloined the original copy from Marsh’s Library did so for his own personal use, it would be reasonable to assume that he had probably not benefitted from a traditional formal education in the classics. However, the book may have been stolen for re-sale on the second-hand market in Dublin.

Citation: 18. Basil Kennett, The Lives and Characters Of the Ancient Grecian Poets (London, 1697).,
Marsh's Library Exhibits, accessed December 21, 2024,
https://dev.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/stolen-books#420

This book, first published in London in 1696, was reprinted frequently throughout the eighteenth century. It was widely admired among scholars and a more popular audience.

This copy was presented to Marsh’s Library in March 1943 by the National Library of Ireland to replace a copy of the same edition which was first listed as missing in 1766.

A disproportionate number of books in English about the classical world and its authors were stolen. Books on the same topics in Latin and Greek were far less likely to be removed from the premises.

Citation: 19. Basil Kennett, Romae Antiquae Notitia: Or, The Antiquities of Rome, 7th edn, (Dublin, 1724).,
Marsh's Library Exhibits, accessed December 21, 2024,
https://dev.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/stolen-books#421

Horace (65 BC–8 BC) was the most famous Roman poet of his day, a momentous period which saw the transition from the Republic to the Empire.

His epistles, odes and satires were widely admired by his contemporaries. Rediscovered in the Renaissance, his work was mined by generations of students and scholars for pithy aphorisms, although many readers would have admitted that they endured rather than enjoyed his verse.

This copy of Horace was presented in June 1927 by the Keeper of Marsh’s Library to replace one missing from the Library since 1767.

Citation: 20. John Bond (ed.), Q. Horatius Flaccus Cum commentariis selectissimis Variorum: & scholiis integris (Leiden, 1663).,
Marsh's Library Exhibits, accessed December 21, 2024,
https://dev.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/stolen-books#422

The Dutch scholar Joannes Secundus (1511–36) wrote love poems in Latin. In 1775, John Nott admitted that copies of Secundus’s poems were ‘extremely scarce’ and that his writings were not well known, ‘yet no Author has been more esteemed by the few who have read him; as well for the purity and elegance of his Language, as for the singular beauty of his Thoughts’.

A disproportionate number of the books taken from the Library were, like this book, printed in small formats. They had the benefit of being easier to steal than larger books.

This copy was purchased in April 1936 to replace one missing from Marsh’s Library since before 1828.

Citation: 21. Joannes Secundus, Opera (Leiden, 1651).,
Marsh's Library Exhibits, accessed December 21, 2024,
https://dev.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/stolen-books#423

The deals with the reign of Mehmed IV, the Ottoman Sultan between 1648 and 1687. Turkish politics and culture were of great interest to Europeans as Ottoman forces expanded into the Balkans during the course of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The Turks seemed to be unstoppable until they were defeated in front of Vienna in 1683.

This copy of A New Survey was purchased in November 1934 to replace one missing from the library since 1767.

A surprising number of books about Turkey and the Ottomans went missing from Marsh’s Library, including all eight volumes of a racy work of fiction entitled Letters Writ by a Turkish Spy (1694).

Citation: 22. Henry Marsh, A New Survey of the Turkish Empire and Government, in a Brief History deduced to this present Time, and the Reign of the now Grand Seignior Mahomet the IV… As also an Account of the Siege of Newhausel (London, 1663).,
Marsh's Library Exhibits, accessed December 21, 2024,
https://dev.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/stolen-books#424

The French Jesuit Guy Tachard (1651–1712) twice travelled to the Kingdom of Siam (modern Thailand) on diplomatic missions at the behest of King Louis XIV.

Tachard’s book was originally published in French in 1687, and was speedily published in an English translation. It contains vivid details and charming illustrations of the peoples, plants and animals that Tachard and his colleagues encountered on their journey via the Cape of Good Hope.

Our copy was bought in November 1846 to replace one which was recorded as missing in 1767.

Citation: 23. Guy Tachard, A Relation of the Voyage to Siam. Performed by Six Jesuits, Sent by the French King, to the Indies and China, in the Year, 1685 (London, 1688).,
Marsh's Library Exhibits, accessed December 21, 2024,
https://dev.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/stolen-books#425

Willem Bosman (1672–c.1703) was a Dutch merchant employed by the Dutch West India Company. After returning to The Netherlands, he published in 1703 an account in Dutch of the geography, peoples and history of the Gold Coast which became a bestseller.

An English-language translation went through two separate editions in 1705.

This copy was bought in 1858 to replace one noted as missing from Marsh’s Library in 1766.

Citation: 24. Willem Bosman, A New and Accurate Description of the Coast of Guinea, Divided into the Gold, the Slave, and the Ivory Coasts (London, 1705).,
Marsh's Library Exhibits, accessed December 21, 2024,
https://dev.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/stolen-books#426

George Psalmanaazaar was a fraudster responsible for one of the most entertaining literary hoaxes of the eighteenth century.

This bestselling book contains a completely invented description of the history, language, customs and culture of Formosa (today called Taiwan), along with lurid details of the practice of polygamy, human sacrifice, cannibalism and infanticide.

Psalmanaazaar was soon exposed as a fake. However, there was money to be made from public scandal and controversy, so he returned to the fray with a spirited defence of his reliability and accuracy.

The book on display was purchased in November 1925 to replace a copy which was listed as missing in 1766.

Psalmanaazaar’s true identity remains unknown to this day.

Citation: 25. George Psalmanaazaar, An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa, An Island subject to the Emperor of Japan (London, 1704).,
Marsh's Library Exhibits, accessed December 21, 2024,
https://dev.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/stolen-books#427

The Peloponnese (formerly known as the Morea) is a large peninsular landmass to the west of Athens in Greece. This description of the politics and history of the region was written by an English merchant named Bernard Randolph, who lived in Greece for much of the 1670s.

This book was of great contemporary interest because of the ongoing efforts of the Holy Roman Empire to push the Turks back to the Black Sea, as well as the war which broke out in 1684 between the Venetians and the Turks in the eastern Mediterranean. The Venetians drove the Turks out of the Peloponnese by 1687, and captured the city of Athens.

This book was donated by Robert Travers in September 1858 to replace one noted as missing in 1767.

Citation: 26, Bernard Randolph, The Present State of the Morea, Called Anciently Peloponnesus: Together with a Description of the City of Athens (London, 1689).,
Marsh's Library Exhibits, accessed December 21, 2024,
https://dev.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/stolen-books#428

The great Chinese teacher Confucius (551 BC–479 BC) articulated a philosophy based on the concepts of ren (‘benevolence’ or ‘compassion’) and li (‘ritual’ or ‘propriety’). He hoped to create the ideal, superior man (junzi) and thereby facilitate a just society.

Confucius’s teachings were highly influential across China and large areas of east Asia for almost two millennia before this 1691 work offered English readers their first introduction to his philosophical approach. It provides an account of Confucius’s life and times, as well as 80 of his maxims.

This English-language text is based on a French-language edition published in 1688, which in turn relied on a Latin work of 1687 published in Paris.

This copy was purchased in December 1931 to replace a copy reported as missing in 1828.

Citation: 27. The Morals of Confucius A Chinese Philosopher, Who flourished above Five Hundred Years before the coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (London, 1691).,
Marsh's Library Exhibits, accessed December 21, 2024,
https://dev.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/stolen-books#429

There were two editions of this dictionary of hunting and outdoor recreational sports: 1735 and 1744. Enlarged editions were published under a slightly different title throughout the second half of the century.

Of the 28 copies of this 1735 text which survive across the world, this is the only one in Ireland. It was purchased in November 1933 to replace a copy which had been noted as missing from Marsh’s Library in 1766.

Citation: 28. The Sportsman’s Dictionary: Or, the Country Gentleman’s Companion, In all Rural Recreations, 2 vols, (London, 1735).,
Marsh's Library Exhibits, accessed December 21, 2024,
https://dev.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/stolen-books#430

John Jones (d.1709) was a Welsh lawyer and physician educated at Jesus College, Oxford. The first edition of this work on opium appeared in 1700. It contains a handy pull-out guide to the ‘safest’ doses of commercially available opiates for ‘strong’, ‘middling’ and ‘weak’ men and women.

There are at least 66 surviving copies of this edition across the world, divided almost equally between the UK and USA. This seems to be the only copy of the 1701 edition in Ireland.

It was purchased in October 1926 to replace a copy which was noted as missing from the Library in 1767.

Citation: 29. John Jones, The Mysteries of Opium Reveal’d (London, 1701).,
Marsh's Library Exhibits, accessed December 21, 2024,
https://dev.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/stolen-books#431

The astronomer and astrologist Thomas Streete (1621–89) was born in Cork, and moved to London sometime after 1660. His lack of formal education did not prevent him from associating with prominent scientists such as Robert Hooke and Edmond Halley. Astronomia Carolina, first published in 1661, was a work of computational astronomy, with extensive tables of planetary positions and motions.

This was the first work in English to discuss Kepler’s laws of planetary motion, and was consulted as a standard textbook by a range of scholars, including Isaac Newton.

This copy was purchased in 1853 to replace a copy stolen from Marsh’s Library by 1767.

Citation: 30. Thomas Streete, Astronomia Carolina: A New Theory of the Coelestial Motions, 2nd edn (London, 1710).,
Marsh's Library Exhibits, accessed December 21, 2024,
https://dev.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/stolen-books#432