United States returns 17th century books, stolen in Stockholm in the 1990s, to Sweden

The work by Italian architect Nicola Sabbatini, printed in 1638, is about stage craft and theater machinery

NEW YORK (AFP).- Two antique books dating back to the 17th century, stolen in Stockholm in the 1990s and sold to Americans by a German auction house, were returned to Sweden on Wednesday. US authorities handed back the books, intercepted by the FBI from a rare book store in Manhattan and from Cornell University, to the National Library of Sweden at a ceremony in New York. Both books were printed in the early 1600s in Europe. Neither of their most recent owners knew they had been stolen. The work by Italian architect Nicola Sabbatini, printed in 1638, is about stage craft and theater machinery, and "Oculus" by Bavarian physicist Christopher Scheiner is about the history of optics. It was printed in 1619.

US prosecutors said they are two of at least 56 rare books stolen from the National Library of Sweden by employee Anders Burius between 1995 and 2004. Operating under a fake name, he sold them to German auction house, Ketterer Kunst, for cash. In 2004, he confessed and later committed suicide, US officials said. Swedish investigators discovered that Ketterer sold 13 of the books to customers in the United States. The Sabbatini book was bought by Richard Lan, owner of Martayan Lan Rare Books in New York in 2001 for more than 27,436 euros ($30,850 by the current exchange rate). The Scheiner was bought by a bookseller in New York in 1999, which sold it in 2001 to Cornell -- one of the most elite universities in the country and based in Ithaca, New York. Both Cornell and Lan surrendered the books voluntarily to the FBI so that they could be returned to the National Library of Sweden after being informed they had been stolen.

"The Library contains the cultural memory of Sweden. The theft of pieces of a nation's memory and heritage creates holes in its intellectual soul," said Deputy US Attorney Richard Zabel. "I'm proud that this office has been at the forefront of recovering what has been taken from many different nations' cultural histories, including Sweden today."

© 1994-2015 Agence France-Presse