A stack of rare books worth millions of dollars was finally returned to the heirs of New York City royalty Monday \u2014 decades after they were snatched by a mysterious bookworm, the Manhattan District Attorney\u2019s Office said.<\/p>\n
The 17 historic works \u2014 valued at nearly $3 million \u2014 once belonged to socialites John Hay Whitney and his second wife, philanthropist Betsey Cushing Whitney, before they were reported missing from Whitney\u2019s estate on Long Island in 1989.<\/p>\n
A rare numbered first edition of \u201cFinnegan\u2019s Wake\u201d signed by famed Irish author James Joyce was among the looted books. Gregory P. Mango for NY Post<\/p>\n
It would take nearly 40 years for the tomes \u2014 which included love letters from British poet John Keats and a signed copy of James Joyce\u2019s \u201cFinnegan\u2019s Wake\u201d \u2014 to suddenly pop up when a man tried pawning them off to two Manhattan book-sellers in January 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether it\u2019s a museum or a gallery, we are the capital \u2026 in authenticity,\u201d Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg said at a press conference. \u201cThis type of legal activity shouldn\u2019t happen anywhere, and we\u2019re not going to let it happen in Manhattan.\u201d<\/p>\n
The swiped previous works belonged to New York City tycoon John Hay Whitney and his second wife, socialite Betsey Cushing Whitney. Getty Images<\/p>\n
Whitney was a tycoon who once published the New York Herald Tribute and was president of the Museum of Modern Art.<\/p>\n
The wealthy scion, also a former ambassador to the United Kingdom, was an avid art collector who inherited hundreds of rare works from his mother, the poet Helen Hay, and eventually stored pieces from his prized collection at the family\u2019s sprawling 400-acre Greentree estate in Manhasset, LI.<\/p>\n
Peter di Bonaventura, the grandson of John and Betsey Whitney, said his family was shocked to learn that the books had been recovered. Gregory P. Mango for NY Post<\/p>\n
But more than two dozen rare copies from the library were reported missing during an inventory check conducted between John Whitney\u2019s death in 1982 and 1989, Manhattan prosectors said \u2014 prompting the family to contact the Nassau County Police Department.<\/p>\n
The case of the theft started to unravel in January 2025 when a man tried to peddle 17 of the stolen titles to B&B Rare Books and Adam Weinberger Rare Books in Manhattan.<\/p>\n
The mysterious seller claimed that he inherited the books from his late grandfather before both dealers contacted law enforcement when they learned that the books were listed on the Art Loss register.<\/p>\n
Acclaimed romance poet John Keats\u2019 love letters to fiancee Frances \u201cFanny\u201d Brawne were recovered. Gregory P. Mango for NY Post<\/p>\n
The stolen works were worth a total of millions of dollars. Gregory P. Mango for NY Post<\/p>\n
It\u2019s unclear how the unidentified man\u2019s grandfather got the books, but the grandson is not considered a suspect in their theft because he he even wasn\u2019t born at the time they were stolen, according to Matthew Bogdanos, head of the Manhattan DA\u2019s Antiquities Trafficking Unit.<\/p>\n
Bogdanos said no thief has yet been identified.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is New York, and that work of art, that antiquity, that rare book, must be legal,\u201d Bogdanos said, referring to the Big Apple as the \u201cart capital of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among the 17 looted books recovered was a bound collection of 37 love letters penned by 19th century poetic romance titan Keats to his fiancee Frances \u201cFanny\u201d Brawne \u2014 including eight original handwritten letters that are currently valued at more than $2 million.<\/p>\n
(From left) Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Matthew Bogdanos, the chief of the office\u2019s Antiquities Trafficking Unit, and di Bonaventura appear at a press conference Monday announcing the historic recovery. Gregory P. Mango for NY Post<\/p>\n
A signed, numbered first-edition copy of Joyce\u2019s famed \u201cFinnegan\u2019s Wake,\u201d published in 1939, was also stolen \u2014 in addition to Oscar Wilde\u2019s jailhouse letters \u201cDe Profundis\u201d that are valued at around $2,000, according to officials.<\/p>\n
In total, at least 28 books were stolen from the Whitney estate between 1982 and 1989, according to the DA\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
Peter di Bonaventura, the grandson of John and Betsey Whitney, said his family was shocked to learn the books had been recovered after they went missing for so long.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a wonderful thing that you\u2019ve been able to recover these books that were in my family going back to my great grandparents,\u201d di Bonavetura said.<\/p>\n
The heirs of the Whitneys said they plan to auction off the books and donate the proceeds to charity.<\/p>\n
The investigation into the other 11 missing books remains ongoing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A stack of rare books worth millions of dollars was finally returned to the heirs of New York…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":203815,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[3015,2878,75,84,83,4327,57,9,24,63,58],"class_list":{"0":"post-203814","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manhattan","8":"tag-alvin-bragg","9":"tag-books","10":"tag-manhattan","11":"tag-manhattan-headlines","12":"tag-manhattan-news","13":"tag-manhattan-supreme-court","14":"tag-metro","15":"tag-new-york","16":"tag-new-york-city","17":"tag-nyc","18":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/203815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}