A valuable book was somehow stolen from a locked case at a book fair in Bogota, Colombia, recently. How it was removed is a mystery to police. The book is a first edition of One Hundred Years of Solitude, by the great Latin American author Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Marquez died last year at the age of 87.
The copy is particularly valuable as it was inscribed by Marquez, but the sentimental value to the owner is greater still. It belonged to bookseller Alvaro Castillo, a friend of Marquez. The author had inscribed the book “To Alvaro Castillo the old-book seller, as yesterday and forever, your friend, Gabo.” Castillo was displaying the book at the fair, not selling it. He was reported, quite naturally, to be deeply saddened by the loss.
The event was the International Book Fair in Bogota, which this year was honoring the late Marquez. One Hundred Years of Solitude, published in 1967, is generally regarded as the writer's most important work. It traces the history of a family through a century's generations.
Castillo removed his remaining books from the fair after the theft. The Bogota prosecutor's office described the theft as a serious attack on the nation's cultural heritage and warned that the thief could face 6-20 years in prison.
At the other end of the spectrum, two books missing from the Smithsonian Institution since the 1990's were recently recovered. This was the result of an unusual four-year search based on a strange tip. Sgt. Michael Morrison of the Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana, sheriff's department had responded to a call from an intoxicated lady. She mentioned she knew of a thief who had taken some books about birds from the Smithsonian, but didn't know the details. Though she was in Louisiana, the thief was in Baltimore. Pointing out that just because someone is drunk, it doesn't mean they are lying, the officer continued to pursue the lead.
That was back in 2011. Sgt. Morrison continued to follow up on the information, and eventually, the woman revealed the name of a person in Baltimore and the books' possible location. Sgt. Morrison contacted the Smithsonian. After four years of investigation, the books were located and returned to the Smithsonian.
There were two ornithology texts involved. One was Sulla seconda edizione del Regno animale del Barone Cuvier, a bound volume of 15 articles by Charles Lucien Bonaparte. Bonaparte was a noted ornithologist as well as being Napoleon's nephew. His career, obviously, took a very different path from that of his famous uncle. Charles Lucien is particularly known for perhaps the most extensive look at American birds prior to Audubon. These articles were published beginning in 1830. The second returned item was Dr. William Woods' Birds of Connecticut, a scrapbook collection of newspaper articles and manuscript writings. Each of these items provides insight to scientific knowledge of birds during the 19th century.
Sotheby’s, July 14: Henry De La Beche. "Awful Changes," 1830. $6,000 to $9,000.
Sotheby’s, July 15: [Apollo 11]. Flight Plan, Complete Original Printing Signed by Buzz Aldrin. $5,000 to $8,000.
Sotheby’s, July 15: Thomas Alva Edison. Documents Establishing and Ending the Edison Electric Railway Company. $20,000 to $30,000.
Sotheby’s, July 15: Richard P. Feynman. Feynman's Lectures on Gravitation 1-16, Including the Original Transcriptions of Lectures 12-16 by Morinigo and Wagner, With Richard Feynman's Manuscript Notations, 1971. $12,000 to $18,000.
Sotheby’s, July 15: [Apollo 9]. A Group of Manuals and Mission Documents used by Stuart Roosa as a member of the Astronaut Support Crew. $5,000 to $8,000.
Sotheby’s, July 15: [BYTE: The Small Systems Journal]. A collection of early foundational issues of Byte: The Small Systems Journal, with rare hardcover editions. $5,000 to $8,000.
Forum Auctions The 10th Anniversary Sale Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper July 16, 2026
Forum, July 16: Inundation papyrus. P.Michael 4, the ‘Inundation papyrus’, a geographical account of the Nile near Canopus, in Greek, remains of two columns from a manuscript scroll on papyrus, Egypt, second century CE. £12,000-18,000
Forum, July 16: Book of Hours, use of Sarum, manuscript on vellum, 6 full-page miniatures, with famous Middle English inscriptions, Southern Netherlands for the English market, [c.1430]. £30,000-50,000
Forum, July 16: Qu'ran, Arabic manuscript on burnished, stencilled, and gold-flecked paper, 447ff., Sultanate Gujarat, Ahmadabad, [after 1411 but no later than 1442]. £15,000-20,000
Forum Auctions The 10th Anniversary Sale Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper July 16, 2026
Forum, July 16: Turner (William). A New boke of the natures and properties of all wines that are commonly vsed here in England, rare first edition of the first English book on wine, By William Seres, 1568. £20,000-£30,000
Forum, July 16: Spenser (Edmund). The Faerie Queene. first edition, Printed [by John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, 1590. £30,000-40,000
Forum, July 16: Shakespeare (William). The Comedie of Errors, extracted from the first folio, Isaac Jaggard and Edward Blount, 1623. £15,000-20,000
Forum Auctions The 10th Anniversary Sale Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper July 16, 2026
Forum, July 16: Fleming (Ian). Casino Royale, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1953. £40,000-60,000
Forum, July 16: d'Agoty (Jacques-Fabien Gautier). Anatomie de la Tête, first edition, Paris, chez le Sieur Gautier, 1748. £10,000-15,000
Forum, July 16: Martial Arts.- Lee (Bruce). 'Praying Mantis style' Kung Fu book, containing numerous annotations, diagrams and graphs in Bruce Lee's hand, c. 1960. £50,000-70,000
Forum Auctions The 10th Anniversary Sale Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper July 16, 2026
Forum, July 16: Warre (Capt. Henry James). Sketches in North America and the Oregon Territory, first edition, rare hand-coloured issue, 1848. £30,000-40,000
Forum, July 16: Norie (John William). The Marine Atlas, or Seaman's Complete Pilot for all the principal places in the known world..., 1826. £30,000-50,000
Forum, July 16: Mao Tse-tung.- Kim Il-sung.-[Note book for visitors from China to Korea], signed by Mao and Kim, [Beijing, 1954]. £10,000-15,000
