In The News: Smiley Restitution Upped to $2.3 Million, Amazon to Get More Print-on-Demand Books
- by Michael Stillman
BookSurge's new contracts mean more print-on-demand books for Amazon.
By Michael Stillman
Final restitution figures for convicted map thief E. Forbes Smiley were raised from an earlier estimate of $1.9 million to $2.3 million. The higher amount was ordered after a thorough investigation of the value of the maps he admitted to stealing. The money will be used to repay map sellers and libraries that purchased the maps he stole. Smiley admitted to stealing 100 maps, 96 of which have been recovered. Some have questioned whether there might have been more, but prosecutors were sufficiently satisfied with his cooperation to recommend the 3 1/2 year sentence he received, half of what it might have been if he had been less cooperative.
Smiley admittedly stole maps from several major libraries, including Yale University, Harvard, the Newberry, New York Public, Boston Public, and the British Library in London. His modus operandi was to slice valuable old maps out of antiquarian texts with a razor. He was captured after an alert librarian noticed he had dropped a razor beneath a table where he was working. He was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison last September after pleading guilty to the 100 thefts.
Whether the increase in the amount of restitution will have any practical effect remains to be seen. It is questionable whether Smiley will be able to produce enough to pay back $1.9 million, let alone $2.3 million. Financial difficulties may have been part of the explanation for his thefts in the first place. His ability to come up with millions of dollars now could well be a stretch.
In a related story, former Rockland County [New York] Historical Society curator Rebecca Chen was arrested for stealing a valuable American atlas from her former employer. The atlas, Henry Tanner's New American Atlas, published in 1823, is likely worth something north of $50,000, perhaps as much as $80,000. Chen sent emails to booksellers, including one in Philadelphia who was suspicious. Police were there to meet Ms. Chen when she arrived at the shop with her book.
BookSurge announced they have signed up more publishers for its print-on-demand service. Among those publishers for whom they will print out-of-print titles on demand are HarperCollins, McGraw Hill and John Wiley. On another front, BookSurge entered into an agreement with Kirtas Technologies, a scanning/digitization firm, to digitize many older books to add to its print-on-demand library. Among the libraries that have signed up to make their collections available for the project are Emory University, University of Maine, the Cincinnati and Toronto Public Libraries.
Unlike Google Book, which is in the process of scanning millions of rare books from the collections of some of the world's most prestigious libraries, and then making them accessible without charge via the internet, BookSurge's titles will be available on a print-on-demand basis, with a fee attached. Those fees would be shared by BookSearch and the institutions which provide the books. BookSurge also uses its print-on-demand capacity to print self-published books for current authors in need of a publisher. BookSurge is owned by Amazon, purchased by the latter about two years ago. We assume we will be seeing more print-on-demand titles coming to that site soon.
Sotheby’s Bibliotheca Brookeriana: A Renaissance Library. The Aldine Collection D-M 18 October 2024
Sotheby’s, Oct. 18: Herodianus Syrus, Herodiani Historiarum, Venice, Heirs of Aldo & Torresano, 1524, Parisian binding for Jean Grolier by Jean Picard, ca. 1540
Sotheby’s, Oct. 18: Musaeus, Opusculum de Herone et Leandro, Venice, Aldo, 1495 (Greek text), interleaved with 1497–1498 (Latin text), English olive morocco by Charles Lewis, the Botfield copy
Sotheby’s, Oct. 18: Horatius Flaccus, Horatius, Venice, Aldo, 1501, Bolognese brown goatskin (between 1501 and 1503), arms of Mino Rossi and illuminated initials throughout
Sotheby’s, Oct. 18: Lucretius, De rerum natura, Venice, Aldo, 1500, English early eighteenth-century red morocco, the Fletcher copy
Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: CATESBY, MARK. 1683-1749. The Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands. $100,000 - $150,000
Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: AUDUBON, JOHN JAMES. 1785-1851. The Birds of America, from Drawings Made in the United States and their Territories. $30,000 - $50,000
Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: ADAMS ON HIS PEAR TREES AND A LOST PORTRAIT BY SALEM ARTIST HANNAH CROWNINSHIELD. ADAMS, JOHN. 1735-1826. $10,000 - $15,000
Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: EARLIEST MAP DEVOTED TO NORTH AMERICA. FORLANI, PAULO. fl.1560-1571. $20,000 - $30,000
Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: HAMILTON DEFENDS THE CONSTITUTION. HAMILTON, ALEXANDER. 1757-1804. $20,000 - $30,000
Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION BROADSIDE. Boston, September 14, 1768. $5,000 - $8,000
Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: ONE OF THE EARLIEST ILLUSTRATIONS OF A SURGICAL PROCEDURE. BARTHOLOMAEUS ANGLICUS. $10,000 - $15,000
Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: RICHARD FEYNMAN'S ANNOTATED COPY, WITH TWO EARLY FEYNMAN AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPTS. $15,000 - $25,000
Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: THE FOUNDATIONS OF MODERN COMPUTING. TURING, ALAN MATHISON. 1912-1954. $30,000 - $50,000
Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: FINE OIL PORTRAIT OF ALBERT EINSTEIN BY EUGEN SPIRO. $40,000 - $60,000
Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: PENICILLIN MOLD MEDALLION INSCRIBED BY ALEXANDER FLEMING. FLEMING, ALEXANDER. 1881-1955. $30,000 - $50,000
Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: APPLE "TWIGGY" MACINTOSH PROTOTYPE USED IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF DEMONSTRATION SOFTWARE. $80,000 - $120,000
Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 24: A Superb Extra-illustrated Copy of Nicolay and Hay’s Work About Lincoln. $50,000 – 70,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 24: The First Volume of De Bry's Great Voyages, Thomas Hariot's Description of Virginia. $50,000 – 70,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 24: An autographed cabinet card of Custer as lieutenant colonel. From his last sitting. $800 – 1,200.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 24: The Congressional Committee, Lincoln's Funeral Springfield Illinois, 3 May 1865. $4,000 – 6,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 25: A remarkable ninth plate daguerreotype of an interracial couple. $30,000 – 50,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 25: What may be the earliest known images of an identified plantation and enslaved African Americans posed with their owner. $20,000 – 30,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 25: Through Tickets to All Principal Points West Via Chicago Burlington and Quincy Railroad For Sale at This Office. $500 – 700.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 25: 15th New York Infantry / Regiment of Engineers GAR regimental colors. Ca 1880. $1,500 – 2,500.
Jeschke Jádi Auction 153 Friday October 25 and Saturday October 26, 2024
Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 1556. Senghor, Les Élégies Majeures. Geneve 1978.
Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 1572. Lew Tolstoy. Anna Karenina. First Edition, Moscow, 1878.
Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 49. Petrarca. Das Gluecksbuch, Augsburg, 1536.
Jeschke Jádi Auction 153 Friday October 25 and Saturday October 26, 2024
Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 1060. Immanuel Kant, Critik der reinen Vernunft. First Edition, Riga, 1781.
Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 585. Bonaparte, Iconografia della fauna Italica. Rome, 1832f.
Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 548. Robert Fludd. Utriusque cosmi maioris, Frankfurt, 1617f.
Jeschke Jádi Auction 153 Friday October 25 and Saturday October 26, 2024
Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 1496. Jacob / Picasso. Chronique des Temps, 1956.
Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 571. Christian von Wolff. Works, Halle 1741f.
Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 969. Karl Friedrich Schinkel, Dekorationen innerer Raeume. Berlin 1874.
Jeschke Jádi Auction 153 Friday October 25 and Saturday October 26, 2024
Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 1457. Goethe. Das Tagebuch. Print on Vellum. Berlin, Officina Serpentis. 1934.
