Rare Book Monthly
Articles - August - 2009 Issue
Who Bears the Loss from the David Slade Thefts?
Now this case has another twist. It appears that most of these books were brought by Mr. Slade to Dominic Winter Book Auctions. This might appear to make Dominic Winter first in the chain for all of the losses. However, according to an article in the Antiques Trade Gazette, Winter has taken the position that they do not guarantee title to the books they auction (presumably, their position is also that they never claim to take title to items they auction, so therefore are not part of the chain). We have not read their contracts, nor do we know whether British law permits such limitation of liability. According to This Is Gloucester, Rothschild is suing Dominic Winter, which would certainly imply he takes a different view of the auction house's liability. However, if Winter's position is upheld, then the greatest risk, at least for those books that have been returned, probably rests with the first purchaser, the ones who purchased at Winter's auction (quite likely a bookseller).
There is one other group of books whose legal status is particularly unclear to us: those that have been traced to the first purchaser, but not beyond. Evidently, some books were sold by Winter to booksellers, who in turn sold them to collectors "unknown." It is not clear to us whether the bookseller has any liability to anyone in this case. Such a dealer is likely to be liable to reimburse the collector if the collector is forced to return the book to Rothschild, but it is not clear to us whether the dealer has any liability if the book is never located. Perhaps this may discourage some booksellers from trying too hard to remember to whom they sold the books. The ABA has called on all such booksellers to identify their customers. This is a painful demand since it might conceivably lead to catastrophic losses to the innocent bookseller, yet the ABA, and ultimately the bookseller, has no other ethical choice, despite the consequences.
When Slade began his process of stealing books from the library of Sir Evelyn de Rothschild, he probably convinced himself that his crime was not all that bad, that the losses were insignificant to a man worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Sir Evelyn undoubtedly felt betrayed and violated by Slade's actions, but it is true he won't lose his livelihood, his house, or his retirement. He will not be forced to sell apples on a street corner. But as we see, it is hard to know who will end up being victimized once the crimes hit the fan. Ironically, it could end up being some bookseller, struggling to get by while remaining true to standards of honesty and integrity, who pays for Mr. Slade's dishonesty. Mr. Slade has earned his current place of residence.
