All's well that ends well for rare book

IT is among the rarest books ever printed and had been lost for a decade. A 400-year-old volume of Shakespeare stolen in England valued at £15 million has been recovered after a man asked a library in the US to authenticate it.

Police in Durham yesterday said they had arrested a 51-year-old man over the theft of the First Folio edition of 1623, which scholars consider one of the most important printed books in English.

It was among seven centuries-old books and manuscripts stolen in December 1998 from a display case at the Durham University library.

The university said at the time it would be virtually impossible to sell the books to legitimate buyers, and for almost a decade police found no trace of them. The mystery began to unravel two weeks ago when a man brought the volume to Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, and asked to have it verified as genuine. Police said he claimed to be an international businessman who had bought it in Cuba.

Staff at the library asked to keep the book while they researched it, and found it was stolen. They told the FBI, which launched an international inquiry.

Police said a man was arrested on Thursday in Washington, County Durham. He was being questioned yesterday while officers searched his home.

The book remains at the Folger Library, a leading centre of Shakespearean research, as Durham Police said they felt it would be safer there than in "an FBI warehouse next to piles of cocaine and cannabis". Plans were being made to return it to Durham.

Yesterday Bill Bryson, the American writer who is the university's chancellor, called the recovery "wonderful news". The author, whose books include Shakespeare: The World as a Stage said: "Like Shakespeare himself, this book is a national treasure giving a rare and beautiful snapshot of Britain's incredible literary heritage."

The stolen copy was part of the library that John Cosin, former Bishop of Durham, established in Durham in 1669. The university estimated its value, if in perfect condition, at 15 million.

The university hoped to recover the other stolen works, which include a 15th-century manuscript containing a fragment of a poem by Geoffrey Chaucer, author of The Canterbury Tales; an edition of Beowulf printed in 1812; and a book of maps and poetry dating from 1612.

The university's vice-chancellor, Chris Higgins, said: "Our security has been very significantly reviewed and enhanced to the highest standards since the theft ten years ago."