An Irish librarian who stole many valuable books from his employer over a long period of time was fortunate to be tried before a sympathetic judge. Different judges and jurisdictions look at crimes differently, with sentences ranging from lenient to harsh, and which is better at rehabilitating criminals and protecting the public is anyone's guess. What can be said is that 37-year-old John Nulty was fortunate that Judge Martin Nolan saw him as an eccentric man with a problem and decided to give him a chance to redeem himself with limited consequences if he tows the line going forward.
Originally, Nulty was charged with 216 counts of stealing books from the National Library of Ireland. They were valued at £199,322 (approximately $262,000). However, he was allowed to plead guilty to the taking of just eight of them. The thefts continued over a period of nine years, from 2004-2013. A couple of books were also taken from another library. Nulty's counsel indicated there was no particular pattern to his thefts, at times taking a single book, other times a bag full of them. Counsel also said he was taking them for his own home, as opposed to reselling them. This weighed in the Judge's decision to give him a lenient sentence. Nonetheless, he was caught as a result of a couple of books missing from the National Library being offered for sale online. They were offered by an unknowing dealer who purchased them from Nulty.
His attorney explained this discrepancy by saying Nulty only sold some of the books when facing financial difficulties in 2013. This claim was supported by the fact that most of the books were still in his home or a separate storage site. The library was able to recover all but about £5,000 worth of the missing books. Also according to his counsel, Nulty at one point considered burning all of the books to put it behind him, but his love for the books and appreciation of their value prevented him from doing so. Naturally, counsel said that he was extremely remorseful and that he came from a good family. His prior record was clean save for a minor public order offense.
Judge Nolan sentenced Nulty to 2 ½ years in prison. However, the Judge also said that it would be unjust to immediately imprison the defendant. Consequently, he suspended the entire sentence. If Nulty stays out of trouble the next 2 ½ years, the sentence will effectively be served without ever setting foot in prison. Judge Nolan stated that if Nulty had been primarily selling the books for a profit, he would not have suspended the sentence, but considering his cooperation, that all but £5,000 worth of the books were recovered, and that he was motivated more by an obsession that got out of hand than money, the Judge did not feel it was right to send him off to jail without another chance.
Mr. Nulty certainly dodged a bullet on this one. Two and one-half years would be a long time in prison for someone whose life of crime was spent in a library. We don't always get a second chance, but when we do, it is best to take it.
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
