Jagiellonian Library of Poland
Floods, Thefts, German Auction House
(I was reading about the flood, then ran across a 20 year old theft story. I haven’t been able to find any follow-up about the theft since 1999, but it was audacious).
The Jagiellonian Library is closed now due to floods in Cracow.
Jagiellonian University was founded in 1364 by King Casimir the Great of Poland under the name of the Akademia Krakowska (Cracow Academy).1 Its Library is one of the largest libraries in Poland. It has a large collection of medieval manuscripts including Copernicus' De Revolutionibus and Jan Długosz's Banderia Prutenorum.2
The Jagiellonian Library has been the target of thefts.
In 1999 the theft of antique books and maps was reported.3 17 were found in Reiss’s auction house near Frankfort, Germany and returned June 11. A German court ordered the return of the books, which included a 15th-century edition of Cosmographica by the Egyptian astronomer Ptolemy, after the library sued the auctioneer. 4
In Reiss’s auction catalogue, the Polish investigators had earlier found some ten to twenty lots which had been stolen from the Jagiellonian library. Although the books had provenances which fit the titles, the documents themselves had either been stolen or fabricated and did not match the actual books.
The 17 volumes, however, were among 51 items that turned up missing when the theft was first discovered. 5
Officials are still unclear exactly how the original theft took place.
Interpol reported that Poland ranked fifth in Europe’s league tables for art thefts, particularly for old prints and rare books. Many of these thefts are undertaken to meet the demands of Western collectors, the police say, especially from Germany.
In Reiss’s auction catalogue, the Polish investigators had earlier found some ten to twenty lots which had been stolen from the Jagiellonian library. Although the books had provenances which fit the titles, the documents themselves had either been stolen or fabricated and did not match the actual books.
Stolen from the Jagiellonian Library in Cracow :
Recovered (11); 31 no report.
-Dondus, Johannes, De medeicinis simplicibus Strassbourg, 1470
-Galilei, Galileo, Difesa contro alle calunnie Venezia, 1607
-Capra, Balthasar, Usus et fabrica circini Padova, 1607
-Capra, Balthasar, Tyrocinia astronomica Padova, 1606
-Capra, Balthasar, Consideratione astronomica Padova, 1605
-Capra, Balthasar, Disputationes duae Padova, 1606
-Galilei, Galileo, Le operazioni del compaso geometrico Padova, 1606
The above six were bound together
-Galilei, Galileo, Il saggiatore Roma, 1623
-Galilei, Galileo, Istoria e dimostrazioni intorno alle machie solari Roma, 1613
-Galilei, Galileo, Sidereus nuncius Venezia, 1610. Found in London.
-Kepler, Johannes, Narratio de observatis a se quatur Iovis satellitibus Frankfurt a. M., 1611. Found in Germany.
The above were bound together
-Galilei, Vincentio, Dialogo della musica Foirenze, 1602
-Kepler, Johannes, Harmonices mundi libri V Linz, 1619
-Kepler, Johannes, Prodromus Frankfurt, 1621
-Kepler, Johannes, Pro suo opere Harmonices mundi apologia Frankfurt, 1622
The above three were bound together
-Ptolemaeus, Claudius, Cosmographia Roma, Petrus de Turre, 1490
-Ptolemaeus, Claudius, Cosmographia Ulm, Leonard Holl, 1482
-Vesalius, Andreas, De humani corporis fabrica Basel, 1555
-Vesalius, Andreas, Anatomia Universa antiquorum anatome Venezia, 1604.
Bakowska, Ewa.(2005). “The Jagiellonian Library, Cracow: Its History and Recent Developments.” Library Review (Glasgow) 54, no. 3 : 155–65.
Abbott, Alison. “Hidden Treasures: The Jagiellonian Museum, Kraków.” Nature (London) 456, no. 7222 (2008).
AP Worldstream (1999). “Investigation underway into theft of antique books from Jagiellonian Library,” September 27.
“Poland Reclaims Stolen Books. .(Jagiellonian Library in Krakow).” American Libraries (Chicago, Ill.) 33, no. 7 (2002): 33–.
Rakoczy, Agnieska (1999). Christie's remove volumes from October sale to investigate links to Jagiellonian Library theft The Art Newspaper (December 1).
Still missing (32)
-Bessarion Nicolaus, Adversus calumniatorem Platonis Roma, Conradus Sweynheim et Arnoldus Pannartz, before 13 IX 1469
-Biblia cum Postillis Nicolai de Lyra Strassburg, Ioannes Grninger, 1492
-Bloch, Marc Elieser, Ichtylogie Berlin, 1797. (Only the illustrated catalogue accompanying the work)
-Galilei, Galileo: Tres epistolae de maculis solaribus Augsburg, 1612
-Isidorus, Hispalensis, Etymologiae Ausburg, G. Zainer, 1472
-Kepler, Johannes, Ad Vitellionem paralipomena Frankfurt, 1604
-Kepler, Johannes, Astronomia nova Heidelberg, 1609
-Kepler, Johannes, Dissertatio cum nuncio sidereo Praha, 1610
-Kepler, Johannes, Nova stereometria Linz, 1615
-Kepler, Johannes, Phaenomenon singulare seu Mercurius in Sole Leipzig, 1609
-Kepler, Johannes, Tabulae Rudolphinae Ulm, 1627
-Montagnana Bartholomaeus, Consilia medica Padova, P. Maufer, 1476
-Munster, Sebastian, Cosmographia C. 1628
-Plautus, Comoediae, Venezia, Vindelinus de Spira, 1472
-Ptolomaeus, Claudius, Geographia, Basel, 1540
-Gerbelius, Nicolaus, In descriptionem Graeciae Sophiani praefatio etc. Basel, 1540
The above two bound together
-Ptolomaeus, Claudius, Geographia Basel, 1542
-Solinus, Polihistor Basel, 1534
-Vadianus, Joachimus, Epitome trium terrae partium Asiae, Africae et Europae Zurich, 1534
The above three bound together
-Ptolemaeus, Claudius, Cosmographia Vicenza, H. Liechtenstein, 1475
-Ptolemaeus, Claudius, Cosmographia Vicenza, H. Liechtenstein, 1475.
-Ptolemaeus, Claudius, Cosmographia Ulm, J. Reger, 1486
-Ptolemaeus, Claudius, Cosmographia, Ulm, J. Reger, 1486
-Ptolomaeus, Claudius, Geographia Basel, 1522
-Seligmann, Jean Michel, Recueil de divers oiseaux colories Nurnberg, 1768
-Schwabenspiegel (landrechtbuch). Augsburg, Günter Zeiner, 1475/6
-Rodericua (Sanctius) Zamorensis, Spiegel des menschlichen Lebens Augsburg, Günter Zeiner, 1475/8
The above two were bound together
-Ulricus de Reichental, Concilium zu Costanz Augsburg. A. Sorg, 1483
-Vesalius, Andreas, De humani corporis fabrica Köln, 1600-1601
-Zeiller, Martin, Topographia Alsatiae Frankfurt, 1644
-Zeiller, Martin, Topographia Electoratus Branderburgici et Ducatus Pomeraniae Frankfurt, 1652
-Zeiller, Martin, Topographia Bohemiae, Moraviae et Silesiae Frankfurt, 1650
Plus seven atlases and Nicolaus Copernicus, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium Nuremberg, 1543