-------- Original Message --------
Subject:        RE: Profiling map thieves.
Date:   Fri, 12 Oct 2007 13:32:04 -0400
From:   Grabach, Kenneth A. Mr. <[log in to unmask]>
To:     Maps, Air Photo & Geospatial Systems Forum <[log in to unmask]>



I find nothing useful in these profiles to help identify anyone who might do similar acts in the future.  That they have traits in common does not suggest a profile at all.  That is, of course, unless we want to target everyone who has an affable demeanor.  How exactly does one recognize the falsely well-adjusted from the sincerely well-adjusted?  In other words, is it possible to distinguish a genuinely friendly and witty, but law abiding map lover from a loquacious and larcenous map connoisseur?  And a scholar of maps?  That of course is a good education for a map thief, but to tar an entire area of scholarly pursuit with the actions of a small number of people is to use a pretty wide brush!  There is a large number of recent and very fine books of historical cartography out there, some general, some focused on a region or period.  Should we target these compilers and authors?  I ask this rhetorically, not to propose action.

Ken Grabach                           <[log in to unmask]>
Maps Librarian                         Phone: 513-529-1726
Miami University Libraries
Oxford, Ohio  45056  USA

-----Original Message-----
From: Maps, Air Photo & Geospatial Systems Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Maps-L
Sent: Thursday, October 11, 2007 12:20 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Profiling map thieves.

Forwarded from MapHist with the permission of Mr. Arader.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject:        Profiling map thieves.
Date:   Thu, 11 Oct 2007 06:42:45 -0400
From:   W. Graham Arader III <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To:       W. Graham Arader III <[log in to unmask]>,
To:     maps-L


In an attempt to be proactive it seems that studying the profiles of the
maps thieves in the past might be worthwhile in an attempt to predict
who will most likely be the maps thieves of the future.

Lynn Glazer published books about the history of cartography and was
scholarly.  He loved to joke around.

Andrew Antippas taught English at Tulane University and was voted the
most popular professor at that institution the year he was caught by
me.  He was very knowledgeable and had a highly developed sense of humor.

William Willingham was a librarian at the University of Georgia and
stole from his own collection the year I tracked him down.  He wrote a
superb book about Civil War imprints.  He was engaging and again loved a
good laugh.

Forbes Smiley was an outstanding scholar.  Those of us who knew him were
well aware of his love of a good joke.

Clearly a high level of understanding of the history of cartography, the
diligence to be able to publish a book about some aspect of
collecting is a distinct prerequisite to being an effective, reasonably
efficient map thief.

All of these men were well known to me.  They were affable, charming and
certainly liked a good joke.  In hindsight this may have been an attempt
to mask their highly developed consciousnesses that eventually drove
them into doing something that would have them be rather easily be caught.

Glazer was caught the first time because he became enraged with the
parking lot attendant over a minor matter at Dartmouth College.  The
next day when the atlases were discovered to be missing the parking lot
attendant had a distinct memory of Glazer and had actually written down
Glazer's license plate number.  It seems that this well educated,
scholarly man with a passion for maps wanted to be caught.

Same pathology with Antippas - he didn't even bother to erase the "Yale
Coll" stamps on the map that he sold me.  Then with me wiring a wire
provided by the FBI he admitted selling the maps to me.

Willingham, through agents, sold most of his material to Ken Kershaw, a
biology profession in Canada.  Kershaw was a dealer as well and so
aggressively promoted the inventory that he purchased that it was easy
for me to make the connection.  Again, it was as if Willingham wanted to
be caught.

Smiley dropped a razor blade at Yale and then admitted that the razor
blade was his.  What could be a more obvious wish to be caught?

Dostoyevsky would have had an easy time with this.  Clearly these well
educated men with scholarly inclinations who would use a joke to mask
their nervousness wanted to be punished for their crimes.

There is an immensely successful map dealer from Wales living in Paris
who is extremely scholarly, has a distinct if not somewhat quirky sense
of humor who I have been tracking for over 30 years.  The difference
between him and the four that I have caught is that he is a sociopath
without any conscience that effectively would have brought him to
justice years ago.   The maps that I have heard he has turned up are
spectacular.  But still he goes on without doing anything to make it
easy for me.

It is my opinion that he is a genius at preying on defenseless libraries
all over the world waiting for the right time to strike.  Because of his
distinctly lower class background it seems that he is not affected by a
bourgeoisie sense of guilt or right or wrong.  I have despaired of ever
getting him.  He is simply too thoroughly evil.

Hope these profiles help librarians all over the world as to whom to
watch out for.

Graham Arader