On the Numismatic Bibliomania Society Facebook page, former Editor of The Asylum Tom Fort writes:

Valuable atlases, maps, and large plate books that show the colorful breadth of Western civilization have been stolen from the rare books room of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh in Oakland,right under the gaze of Andrew Carnegie's portrait.

The theft of 314 items was discovered last April when an appraisal for insurance purposes began of the rare materials in the Oliver Room, library spokeswoman Suzanne Thinnes said. Deemed a crimescene, the room has been closed since April 3, 2017. Since that time, detectives from the Allegheny County District Attorney's Office have been investigating the complex case.

"We're very saddened by the breach of trust. This theft occurred over an extended period of time" by a knowledgeable individual or individuals, Ms. Thinnes said. She said the library could notprovide an exact value of the missing materials.

Michael Vinson, a rare book dealer for 26 years, who reviewed a detailed list of the missing items, was more direct.

"I think the value would easily be $5 million. This is an immense cultural crime," he said.

Among the missing books is a first edition of Isaac Newton's "Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica" from London, dated 1687. Mr. Vinson noted that another copy of this book sold for $3.7million in 2016 at a Christie's auction in New York City.

Also gone is a first edition of Adam Smith's book "The Wealth of Nations," which, Mr. Vinson said, would be worth $150,000. Nine books printed before 1500 were stolen, too. These texts are calledincunables because they were printed in the first 50 years after Johannes Gutenberg began printing. Mr. Vinson said the nine incunables would be worth a total of $50,000.

"This is a great loss to the Pittsburgh community," she added. "Trust is a very important component of what we do on a daily basis. The library takes very seriously the security of all itscollections."

The staff member responsible for the collection is no longer employed by the library, she said, declining to elaborate.

"This was part of a magnificent collection that would cover the entire breadth of Western civilization. [Edmund] Spenser's 'The Faerie Queene' is a landmark in literature," said Mr. Vinson, wholives in Santa Fe, N.M. and holds a master's degree in library science from the University of Chicago, where he specialized in the history of the book.

The list, obtained by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, includes a first folio edition of Spenser's classic poem that was published in London in 1609.

A three-volume set by Thomas L. McKenney and James Hall, titled "History of The Indian Tribes of North America," is worth $100,000, Mr. Vinson said.

Also missing is John James Audubon's oversized book "The Quadrupeds of North America," an octavo edition of his illustrations of four-footed mammals published in the 1850s in New York City.

Joyce Kosofsky, co-owner of Brattle Book Shop in downtown Boston, has worked in the book trade since 1978 and agreed with Mr. Vinson. She called the list "jaw-dropping. It's an impressive list ofbooks - the range of what's there," she said.

"These are high-end rare books. I've never seen a list this big. This is a major theft," Ms. Kosofsky said.

To read the conplete Yale University inventory entry, see: Bronze medal of James Whitcomb Riley(https://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/165226)

To read the Carnegie Library numismatic literature inventory on the Newman Numismatic Portal, see:
Wayne Homren Archives: 1991 Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh Wadsworth Room Numismatic Literature Appraisal(https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/538819)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
PHOTO ARCHIVE: NUMISMATIC BIBLIOPHILES VISIT CARNEGIE LIBRARY RARE BOOK ROOM (http://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v11n22a05.html)

To read the complete Post-Gazette article, see:
Who stole 314 items from the CarnegieLibrary rare books room? (http://www.post-gazette.com/ae/books/2018/03/19/Carnegie-Library-rare-atlases-maps-books-Japanese-prints-stolen-Oliver-Room/stories/201803190007)

For more information, see: Pittsburgh Area Thefts (https://www.abaa.org/blog/post/pittsburgh-area-thefts