A trove of rare books and letters by literary legends like James Joyce, John Keats and Oscar Wilde — worth more than $3 million and stolen decades ago from the Whitney Estate in Manhasset — are back in the hands of their rightful owners.
The Whitney family declined to comment after the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office on Monday announced it had recovered the 17 books, which had resurfaced last year at two rare book sellers in Manhattan.
One of the books contains eight rare letters from English poet John Keats to his betrothed lover and fellow poet Fanny Brawne.
B & B Rare Books co-owner Sunday Steinkirchner told Newsday a man brought the books to the Madison Avenue shop in January 2025.
When Steinkirchner saw a leather-bound tome with gold lettering and vellum pages, she recognized Keats’ handwriting. She said the book contained eight of 30 letters written by Keats to Brawne — valued at more than $2 million and out of public view for more than a century.
“A man came into the book store and said these books were from his family and wanted to sell them. I saw the letters, which I knew were authentic and I knew it wasn’t his.” Steinkirchner said. “This is the coolest thing that has been in my shop. I can’t think of anything more iconic and rare than letters and now had the chance to return them to their owners.”
Prosecutors said at least 28 books were stolen from the Whitney Estate of John Hay and Betsey Whitney between 1982 and 1989.
“Manhattan is the cultural capital of the world, home to museums, galleries, and dealers displaying incredible artworks and antiquities,” Bragg said in a statement. “Yet the integrity of this marketplace is undermined when stolen items are on display. We will not allow our borough to be a center for trafficked art and antiquities, and I thank our team of prosecutors and investigators for their work on this case.”
John Whitney founded the New York Herald Tribune and was president of the Museum of Modern Art. The family reported the books missing from the Whitney Estate to the Nassau County police in 1989. The estate is now home to the nonprofit Greentree Foundation, which declined to comment Monday.
No charges have been filed in the case, prosecutors said. The identity of the man who attempted to sell the books to B & B Rare Books and another book shop was not released. He has not been charged but the invesitgation is continuing, according to prosecutors. The district attorney’s antiquities unit is still searching for the remaining missing books.
Steinkirchner said she was able to trick the man into leaving the books after she told him they needed to be authenticated before being sold on consignment. In the meantime, she contacted authorities and a Princeton University professor to review the Keats letters.
The letters, which include a drawing of Keats and a silhouette of Brawne amid the scripts, can be traced to 1885 when they were sold at auction by Brawne’s family, prosecutors said.
“They suddenly just reappeared and no one has seen them,” said Princeton English Professor Susan J. Wolfson, who helped authenticate the books. “No one had seen these letters since 1888, except maybe the Whitney family.”
John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.