Photo: Ministry of Culture and National Heritage
Valuable prints returned to the BUWR
Valuable stolen prints returned to the University Library in Wrocław. The official ceremony for the handover of the items took place on 29 February 2024 at the National Library in Warsaw. It was attended by, among others: Director of the Department for the Restitution of Cultural Property at the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage – Mrs Elżbieta Rogowska, Counsellor for the Restitution of Cultural Property at the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage – Mr Tomasz Śliwiński, Director of the National Library – dr Tomasz Makowski, and on the part of the University of Wrocław – Mr Pro-Rector for scientific research prof. dr hab. Artur Błażejewski, Director of the University Library – curator dr Monika Górska, and employee of the Manuscripts Branch of BUWr – dr Antoine Haaker.
The Director of the Department for the Restitution of Cultural Property at the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage thanked the staff of the University Library in Wrocław for their cooperation, in particular Mr Antoine Haacker of the Manuscripts Branch of BUWr, who identified these books on the antiquarian market and proved the University’s rights to recover them.
On the restitution of the lost BUWr collections
In recent years, the University Library made a special effort to return lost books. Thanks to these efforts, an illuminated Renaissance manuscript of Cicero and a 16th-century anthology of Turkish poetry, stolen in the 1960s or 1970s, were recently returned to the university’s collections.
About last recovered prints
The last books recovered were valuable first editions of Karl Marx’s works: “Herr Vogt” (London, 1860) and “Anekdota zur neuesten deutschen Philosophie und Publicistik” (Zurich, Winterthur, 1843)
At first glance, these books are inconspicuous and perhaps would not find too many amateurs in Poland. However, in the West and elsewhere, these first editions of works written by this thinker who changed world history are worth as much at auction as medieval illuminated manuscripts.
“Herr Vogt” is Marx’s longest polemical work, which took him the better part of a year away from writing Capital to complete. Directed against Karl Vogt (1817-95), the book is a response to his slanders against Marx, Engels and their followers. In this important historical document, Marx displays a rare talent for merciless satire. “Anekdota” is even more valuable because it contains Marx’s first political publication.
These two valuable books were probably stolen in the 1990s by a former library employee. Last year, Antoine Haaker recognised them on the Internet. One was in the possession of a bookseller from Germany and the other of a Danish antiquarian. Having gathered documentation confirming our rights to these books, the matter was reported to the Ministry. The antiquarians, after reviewing the documentation, returned the prints. Yesterday, they were handed over to their rightful owner, the University Library in Wrocław.
Thief removed UWr property signs
The thief removed the BUWr seal and signatures. They can, however, be seen in the ultraviolet photographs especially in the forfeit of the “Anekdota”. The title page of the book entitled “Herr Vogt” was dismantled and placed in a special chemical solution. It is therefore more difficult to find traces there.
