Another Stolen Columbus Letter Returned from America to its Rightful European Owner
- by Michael Stillman
The stolen Columbus Letter (U.S. Attorney Delaware photo).
In what seems to have become a distressingly common occurrence, yet another stolen Columbus Letter has made the journey over and back from Europe to America in recent years. This is the fourth time since 2016 a Columbus Letter stolen from an Italian or Spanish library has been discovered in America and returned to its rightful owner. That now equals the number of journeys of discovery Christopher Columbus himself made to the Americas. This particular copy was stolen from the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana in Venice. Unlike the previous three, no forgery was placed on the shelf to disguise the theft. It was just taken.
As generations of American children know, Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492. He returned the following a year with a letter for the King and Queen of Spain recounting his discoveries. Printings were made of that letter to tell others in Europe of the news, but the print runs were short. Of the various editions printed in the ensuing years, only about 80 copies are known to still exist. The Marciana was a special one, being a first edition, known as a Plannck I. It is the first edition printed by Stephan Plannck and is distinguishable from a Plannck II in that it is addressed to just King Ferdinand, while the second edition is addressed to both the King and Queen Isabella. The Plannck I has been estimated to be worth $1.3 million.
According to the U. S. Attorney's Office, District of Delaware, the Marciana Library acquired this Columbus Letter in or around 1875. It was stolen sometime between 1985-1988. If they know who took it, or where it was between then and 2003, they have not let on. In May of 2003, it was sold by an American dealer to a “good faith” collector. The names of these individuals were not released either. It is not surprising the buyer was in the dark as the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana had not even reported the letter missing at this time.
In 2019, authorities in the U.S. were contacted by their counterparts in Italy who suspected this was the Marciana copy. They requested the collector submit the letter to inspection by Dr. Paul Needham of Princeton University, an expert on the subject. The collector agreed to the inspection. Using information supplied by Italian authorities, including sewing marks, Dr. Needham determined that this was the Marciana copy. The collector voluntary released any claims to title of the letter.
Other copies of the Columbus letter recently returned from America to rightful European owners include a copy held by Mary Parsons, widow of David Parsons of Atlanta, who innocently purchased his copy in 2004 in New York. That copy was returned to the Vatican Library in 2018. That same year another copy was returned to the Library of Catalonia in Spain. In 2016, a copy held by the U.S. Library of Congress was returned to a library in Florence, Italy.
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 26th March 2026
Forum, Mar. 26: Book of Hours.- Heures a lusaige de Romme, printed on vellum, with 14 full-page illuminated miniatures, Paris, N. Higman for J. de Brie, [c.1521]. £20,000-30,000
Forum, Mar. 26: France.- Book of Hours, perhaps Use of the Abbey of Saint-Gildas de Rhuys, with thirteen miniatures surviving from an original cycle of at least twenty, [c. 1430]. £15,000-20,000
Forum, Mar. 26: Milton (John). Paradise lost. A Poem in Ten Books, first edition, Pforzheimer's sixth state, S. Simmons, 1669. £8,000-12,000
Forum, Mar. 26: Blake (William). Illustrations of the Book of Job, one of 215 first issue "Proof" copies, this one of 65 copies on "French" paper, Published by the Author, March 8, 1825 [but March, 1826]. £15,000-20,000
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 26th March 2026
Forum, Mar. 26: Christie (Agatha). The ABC Murders, first edition, The Crime Club, 1936. £15,000-20,000
Forum, Mar. 26: Halley (Edmund). Astronomiae Cometicae Synopsis, in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, no. 297, pp.1882-99, March 1705. £10,000-15,000
Forum, Mar. 26: Haytham (Ibn al) [known as Alhazen]. Opticae Thesaurus...Item Vitellonis Thuringopoloni libri X..., first edition, Basel, August, 1572. £20,000-30,000
Forum, Mar. 26: Kepler (Johannes). Dioptrice seu demonstratio eorum quae visui & visibilibus propter conspicilla non ita pridem inventa accidunt, first edition, Augsburg, David Frank, 1611. £12,000-18,000
Forum Auctions Natural History: The remaining stock of Antiquariaat Junk, 1899-2026 25 March 2026
Forum, Mar. 25: Botany.- Andrews (H.C.) Coloured Engravings of Heaths, 4 vol. in 2, first edition, [1710,--94]-1802-1809-[1830]. £10,000 - £15,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Butterflies.- Cramer (Pierre) and Caspar Stoll. De Uitlandsche Kapellen voorkomende in de drie Waereld-Deelen…,, 5 vol., Amsterdam & Utrecht, 1779-91. £8,000 - £12,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Voyages.- Darwin (Charles) and others. Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle, 3 vol. in 4, including Appendix to vol.2, first edition, 1839. £8,000 - £12,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Butterflies.- de Graaf (Willem Diederik Vincent). [Inlandsche Kapellen in beeld], 170 fine original watercolours, [Enkhuizen], [1800-40]. £8,000 - £12,000.
Forum Auctions Natural History: The remaining stock of Antiquariaat Junk, 1899-2026 25 March 2026
Forum, Mar. 25: Birds.- Dresser (Henry Eeles). A History of the Birds of Europe, 9 vol., including supplement, first edition, by the author, 1871-96. £6,000 - £8,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Zoology.- Felines.- Elliot (Daniel Giraud). A Monograph of the Felidæ or Family of the Cats, first edition, for the Subscribers, by the Author, [1878]-1883. £25,000 - £30,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Birds.- Frisch (Johann Leonard). Vorstellung der Vögel Deutschlandes, 2 vol., first edition, Berlin, Friedr. Wilhelm Birnsteil, [1736]-1763. £40,000 - £60,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Birds.- Gould (John). The Birds of Great Britain, 5 vol., first edition, by the author, 1862-1873. £30,000 - £40,000.
Forum Auctions Natural History: The remaining stock of Antiquariaat Junk, 1899-2026 25 March 2026
Forum, Mar. 25: Pomology.- France.- Poiteau (A.) Pomologie Française. Recueil des Plus Beaux Fruits cultivés en France, 4 vol., Paris, 1846. £30,000 - £40,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Botany.- [Robin (Jean)]. Histoire des Plantes, nouvellement trouvées en l'Isle Virgine…,, 1620; with Geoffrey Linocier L'Histoire des plantes, second edition, 1619-20. £3,000 - £4,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Asia.- Japan.- Siebold (P.F. von). Nippon. Archiv zur Beschreibung von Japan, 7 parts in 6 vol., first edition, Leyden, [1832]-1852. £35,000 - £45,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Asia.- Valentijn (Francois). Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indiën..., 5 vol. in 8, first edition, Dordrecht [&] Amsterdam, 1724-26. £8,000 - £12,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Botany.- Australia.- Redouté (P.J.).- Ventenat (Étienne Pierre). Jardin de la Malmaison, 2 vol.,, Paris, 1803-04[-05]. £30,000 - £40,000.
