Rare Books Stolen From Ex-MoMA President's Home Recovered After Nearly 40 Years

"The most historically significant component, though, is worth $2 million—a gilt morocco-bound illustrated portfolio containing eight handwritten letters from the English Romantic poet John Keats to his fiancee and muse, Frances 'Fanny' Brawne."

"According to press materials from the D.A., the relics within this long-lost trove include a first edition copy of Aleister Crowley's erotic poetry compilation, which is estimated to be worth approximately $6,000, as well as a signed, first-edition copy of James Joyce's 1905 experimental novel Finnegan's Wake (est. $6,000)."

"Born in 1905, John Hay Whitney succeeded Nelson Rockefeller as president of MoMA in 1941. He fought in World War II the following year—and became chairman of the museum's board of trustees not long after returning, in 1946."

The Antiquities Trafficking Unit will return 17 rare books, valued at over $2 million, to the descendants of John Hay Whitney and Betsey Cushing Whitney. The collection includes a first edition of Aleister Crowley's poetry and a signed copy of James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake. The most valuable item is a portfolio containing eight letters from John Keats to Frances Brawne, worth $2 million. These books are part of a larger collection of 28 believed to be stolen from the Whitney's Long Island home nearly 40 years ago.

Read at Artnet News