In Quest of Key from Demidov’s Library
The books worth $250,000 vanished from the oldest library in the Ural region, the far-famed Demidov Library. The first details of the theft were unveiled yesterday. At the library of the Ural Academy of State Service, where lots of books from the scattered collection were kept, they lost keys, and the thieves were only too eager to take occasion, investigators said. No one has been detained yet, only the house of an expert, who reported the robbery, was searched.
An offspring of Russia’s famous dynasty of industrialists, Alexey Demidov started collecting books as far back as in 1864. After the 1917 revolution, some volumes from the 17,000-book collection, were grabbed by the Czechs, who were passing Siberia in 1918 – 1919 en route to Vladivostok. The remaining books were handed out by the Bolsheviks to local universities and centers of the Communist Party.
By late of the 20th century, a sizable portion of Demidov’s library had amassed in the book depositories of Nizhny Tagil museum of regional history and economy, Ural Research Center, Ural State University and Ural Academy of State Service.
The theft of books from the library of the Ural Academy of State Service was spotted through the book catalogue. In August of 2004, Sergey Beloborodov, an engineer at the City’s Archeological and Geographical Laboratory reported that he had been asked to appraise “The Notes of Catherine the Great About the History of Russia.” A man came to Beloborodov and told him he had bought a book for $6,000. Beloborodov found the book in the catalogue of the Ural Academy and went there. The inspection carried out in the Academy in the wake of the above report revealed that 30 books had been lost. Criminal action was brought in. Interpol was informed accordingly.
In the Ural Territorial Department of Rosokhrankultura, they say not 30 but at least 200 books were stolen worth at least $250,000.
All of a sudden, the secrecy of investigation was breached by policemen, who, without any apparent reason, decided to trumpet their success. To add to the book spoken of by Beloborodov, they found nine more volumes. One of the investigators told Kommersant on condition of anonymity that the suspect list has been made out. At least they managed to find out how the books had been stolen. The library officials could have just lost the key.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Apr. 01, 2005
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