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Theft is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word theft is also used as a synonym or informal shorthand term for some crimes against property, such as larceny, robbery, embezzlement, extortion, blackmail, or receiving stolen property. In some jurisdictions, theft is considered to be synonymous with larceny, while in others, theft is defined more narrowly. A person who engages in theft is known as a thief.
Larceny is a crime involving the unlawful taking or theft of the personal property of another person or business. It was an offence under the common law of England and became an offence in jurisdictions which incorporated the common law of England into their own law, where in many cases it remains in force.
Pickpocketing is a form of larceny that involves the stealing of money or other valuables from the person or a victim's pocket without them noticing the theft at the time. It may involve considerable dexterity and a knack for misdirection. A thief who works in this manner is known as a pickpocket.
Bibliomania can be a symptom of obsessive–compulsive disorder which involves the collecting or even hoarding of books to the point where social relations or health are damaged.
Art theft, sometimes called artnapping, is the stealing of paintings, sculptures, or other forms of visual art from galleries, museums or other public and private locations. Stolen art is often resold or used by criminals as collateral to secure loans. Only a small percentage of stolen art is recovered—an estimated 10%. Many nations operate police squads to investigate art theft and illegal trade in stolen art and antiquities.
Stéphane Breitwieser is a French art thief and author, notorious for his art thefts between 1995 and 2001. He admitted to stealing 239 artworks and other exhibits from 172 museums while travelling around Europe and working as a waiter, an average of one theft every 15 days. The Guardian called him "arguably the world's most consistent art thief". He has also been called "one of the most prolific and successful art thieves who have ever lived", and "one of the greatest art thieves of all time". His thefts resulted in the destruction of many works of art, destroyed by his family to conceal evidence of his crimes.
Stephen Carrie Blumberg is best known as a bibliomane who lived in Ottumwa, Iowa. After being arrested for stealing more than 23,600 books worth US$5.3 million in 1990, he became known as the Book Bandit and was recognized as the most successful book thief in the history of the United States.
Edward Forbes Smiley III is an American former rare map dealer and convicted art thief. He was found guilty in 2006 of stealing 97 rare maps originally valued at more than US$3 million, and sentenced to 42 months in prison.
Horse theft is the crime of stealing horses. A person engaged in stealing horses is known as a horse thief. Historically, punishments were often severe for horse theft, with several cultures pronouncing the sentence of death upon actual or presumed thieves. Several societies were formed in the United States to prevent horse theft and apprehend horse thieves. However, horse theft continues to occur throughout the world, as horses are stolen for their meat, for ransom, or in disputes between their owners and other persons. Horse theft today is comparable to automobile theft, a crime punishable by felony jail time.
Midnight Man is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
Baby Jesus theft is the theft of figurines of the infant Jesus from outdoor public and private nativity displays during the Christmas season. It is an "enduring practice" according to New York Times journalist Katie Rogers, "believed to be part of a yearly tradition, often carried out by bored teenagers looking for an easy prank." Sometimes these are stolen for resale, other times the associated pranks are more involved and include dropping it off somewhere else.
Book store shoplifting is a problem for book sellers and has sometimes led stores to keep certain volumes behind store counters.
William Simon Jacques, nicknamed the "Tome Raider" by the media, is a serial book thief who has been twice convicted after stealing hundreds of rare books worth over £1 million from libraries in the UK. He was jailed in May 2002 for four years, and again in July 2010 for three and a half years.
A hotel thief is someone who steals items from the rooms of guests at a hotel.
Ken Sanders is an American antiquarian bookseller who is also well known for his pursuit of book thieves. He organized a sting operation to capture John Charles Gilkey, and is a major focus of the book The Man Who Loved Books Too Much, about Gilkey's thefts. He has been an appraiser on Antiques Roadshow. He was raised in Salt Lake City, where he "was a serious book collector by age 17."
Theft from libraries of books, historical documents, maps and other materials from libraries is considered a significant problem. One study commissioned in the UK estimated the average loss rate of libraries to theft at 5.3%.
A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books is a 1995 nonfiction book of book collecting case studies by Nicholas A. Basbanes. It was a 1995 National Book Critics Circle Award finalist.
Still Life with Candlestick is an oil painting created in 1922 by the French artist Fernand Léger.
Between 2016 and 2021, multiple prepublication manuscripts were stolen via a phishing scheme that investigators believed were conducted by an industry insider or insiders. In 2022, the FBI arrested Filippo Bernardini, a 29-year-old Italian citizen living in London and working for Simon & Schuster.
The Man Who Loved Books Too Much: The True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Obsession is a 2009 non-fiction book by American journalist and author Allison Hoover Bartlett. The book chronicles the crimes of John Charles Gilkey, a book collector who utilized check and credit card fraud to steal a number of rare manuscripts and first editions from dealers. Bartlett also covers the efforts of Ken Sanders, a bookseller and part-time investigator of book theft, as he attempted to track down Gilkey and bring him to justice. The book received mixed reviews, with reviewers praising Bartlett's research and inclusion of smaller vignettes about other people notably obsessed with books, but criticizing her attempts to draw conclusions that aren't supported by the narrative as well as her over-frequent injection of her own self into the story.
References
- ↑ Ciuraru, Carmela (November 5, 2009). "'The Man Who Loved Books Too Much' by Allison Hoover Bartlett". LA Times. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
- ↑ Ann, Mary (2010-10-03). "Thief stole rare books for love, says author". Seattle Times. Retrieved 2012-01-14.
- ↑ Modern Library's List of 100 Best Novels
- ↑ Berkes, Howard (January 2010). "Literary Larceny: A Book Thief Meets His Match". NPR.
- ↑ Bartlett 2009 , p. 101
- 1 2 Berkes, Howard (January 2010). "Literary Larceny: A Book Thief Meets His Match". All Things Considered. NPR.org. Retrieved 10 April 2011.
- ↑ Bartlett 2009 , p. 243
- ↑ John Woolfolk (February 7, 2003). "Book-theft suspect caught with the goods". San Jose Mercury News.
He was a thief who allegedly used a stolen credit card number to buy the original bestseller and reserve a room at the hotel where he planned to pick it up, police say. Now investigators say they have connected the man, John Charles Gilkey, to at least one other similar rare-book theft in the Bay Area and are looking into whether he is linked to others over the last two years worth $50,000... Gilkey, who was on probation out of Los Angeles for writing bad checks, told police he was unemployed and living on the streets of San Francisco. So officers were surprised when he promptly posted $15,000 bail.
- ↑ Redfearn, Dixie (2007-05-19). "Meet 'Book Cop' at Gold Rush fair". The Union. Archived from the original on 2011-09-14. Retrieved 2012-01-14.
- ↑ Lieberman, Michael (December 15, 2010). "The Man Who Loved Books Too Much is back on the loose". Book Patrol. Seattle Pi. Retrieved 10 April 2011.
- ↑ "Ex-libris". Criminal. Episode 22. 26 June 2015.
