Two Incunable Books, Stolen in Switzerland Years Ago and Sold in America, Returned
- by Michael Stillman
Lessing Rosenwald's copy of Ship of Fools.
Two incunable books, stolen from the Capuchin Library in Freiburg, Switzerland, have been found and returned to the Freiburg Canton Library which now holds the collection. The Capuchins turned their collection over to this library to provide better security. The books were stolen at different times and ended up in different collections. Both were in America. Part of what made the search extra difficult is the library wasn't even aware that books had been stolen until years later. It took a lot of searching to find and identify the missing books, but with the help of the Swiss Ambassador to America, they are now back home again.
The first book is Das Narrenschiff, in English, The Ship of Fools. This is a famous satire by Sebastian Brandt, a first edition published in 1494. It is extremely rare, only 14 copies still extant. The Swiss library valued it at a little over $500,000. Some of the illustrations are believed to have been prepared by Albrecht Durer. It is believed to have been stolen during the Second World War. The book first reappeared in 1945 with a New York bookseller. It was sold to Lessing J. Rosenwald, one the greatest American collectors of the twentieth century and a man with an impeccable reputation. He would not have known the actual source. Rosenwald gave his collection to the Library of Congress over several decades from the 1940s to 1980. We believe this was an early gift. That is where it has been until its history was recently discovered.
The circumstances of the second theft are better understood. Its title is De Memoria Augenda, On Increasing Memory. It is a book about the brain and improving memory. The author was Matthiolus Perusinus, the book published circa 1490. In this case, the thief approached the library posing as a librarian from the Vatican in 1975. The monks fell for the ruse and gave him free reign of the books. He stole 21 books and manuscripts and then disappeared. The theft wasn't noticed until 25 years later. This book was purchased by Philip Mills Arnold, another innocent collector. He later donated it to Washington University in St. Louis where it was located.
Both books have now been returned to Freiburg, but there are still many others missing that were stolen. Only six of the 21 taken in 1975 have been returned. They will keep looking.
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 28th May 2026
Forum, May 28: Book of Hours.- Heures de nostre dame a l'usaige de Romme, Paris, Antoine Chappiel pour Germain Hardouin, [1504]. £6,000-8,000
Forum, May 28: Colonna (Francesco). La Hypnerotomachia di Poliphilo, second edition, Venice, Sons of Aldus Manutius, 1545. £15,000-20,000
Forum, May 28:The Christ Child holding a crystal orb and surrounded by banderoles with devotional exhortations, on a leaf most probably from a Book of Hours, [Southern Netherlands, last decades of the fifteenth century]. £2,000-3,000
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 28th May 2026
Forum, May 28: Jackson (Shirley). The Haunting of Hill House, first English edition, signed presentation inscription from the author to Claude Fredericks, 1960. £2,000-3,000
Forum, May 28: Lennon (John). In His Own Write, first edition, first impression, signed by the author, 1964. £3,000-4,000
Forum, May 28: Doves Press.- Keats (John). [Poems], one of 200 copies on paper, Doves Press, 1914. £5,000-7,000
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 28th May 2026
Forum, May 28: Rodrigues (João Barbosa). Sertum Palmarum Brasiliensium, 2 vol., first and only edition, Brussels, 1903. £8,000-12,000
Forum, May 28: Newton (Sir Isaac). Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica…editio ultima, auctior et emendatior, Amsterdam, Sumptibus Societatis, 1714. £8,000-12,000
Forum, May 28: Kepler (Johannes). Ad Vitellionem paralipomena, wuibus astronomiae pars optica traditur, first edition, Frankfurt am Main, 1604. £5,000-7,000
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 28th May 2026
Forum, May 28: Tagliacozzi (Gaspare). De Curtorum Chirurgia per insitionem, libri duo, first edition, Venice, Gasparo Bindoni, 1597. £7,000-10,000
Forum, May 28: Lootsman (Jacobsz). The Lightning Colomne, or Sea-Mirrour, containing the Sea-Coasts of the Northern, Eastern and Western Navigation..., 1670. £8,000-12,000
Forum, May 28: Ribelles y Helip (José), Attributed to. An album comprising 33 finely executed watercolours of Spanish costume, bull-fighting scenes, and other genre subjects, [circa 1830]. £10,000-15,000
