A former Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh archivist and a respected Oakland antiquarian bookseller “cannibalized” rare books from the institution by cutting out pages and stole more than $8 million worth of precious items over a 20-year period, according to the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office.
It ranks as one of the largest library thefts in history.
Greg Priore, 61, of Oakland, who worked as the sole archivist and manager of the library’s rare book room since 1992, is charged with theft, receiving stolen property, conspiracy, retail theft, library theft, criminal mischief and forgery.
John Schulman, 54, of Squirrel Hill, who owns Caliban Book Shop, is charged with theft, receiving stolen property, dealing in proceeds of illegal activity, conspiracy, retail theft, theft by deception, forgery and deceptive business practices.
“According to Pall Mall Art Advisors, the staggering scope of these library thefts — resulting in the loss of value of the CLP collection of approximately $8,066,300 — ranks it among the world’s largest losses to date,” a criminal complaint written by DA’s detectives Frances Laquatra and Perann Tansmore said.
Both men turned themselves in Friday morning at City Court in Downtown Pittsburgh. Court records show that both were released on their own recognizance following an afternoon arraignment. A preliminary hearing for them is scheduled for Aug. 1.
"The complaint sets forth serious allegations, and we are treating them as such," said Robert G. Del Greco Jr., who represents Mr. Schulman.
He called his client a "titan in the book community," and said they will address the allegations in due course.
Attorney Kayleigh Shebs, who represents Mr. Priore along with attorney Patrick Livingston, said they have no comment at this time.
In statements to investigators, according to the criminal complaints, Mr. Priore admitted his involvement in the thefts, saying he often removed items from the Oliver Room at the library’s main branch in Oakland by carrying individual plates (illustrated pages) and maps in manila folders, or for books or larger items, by brazenly rolling them up and walking out.
“Priore stated, ‘I should have never done this. I loved that room, my whole working life, and greed came over me. I did it, but Schulman spurred me on,’” the complaint said. “Priore alleged that Schulman ‘goaded’ him on and that Schulman made significantly more money than he did in the sale of the items from the Oliver Room.
“Priore explained that he took a lot of maps and pictures – in all possibly 200 items – from the Oliver Room. Priore then stated ‘You got me, I screwed up.’ He also stated, ‘Please tell [library executive director] Mary Frances [Cooper] I am sorry and I let the whole place down.’”
The thefts were discovered in April of 2017 during an audit by appraisers from Pall Mall. They found that some 300 items were missing from the library’s collection and 16 more were “‘diminished’ or vandalized by removal of a portion of the original item.”
Of the items that were taken or “cannibalized,” the criminal complaints said, 42 of them, valued at $258,945, were recovered from the Caliban Book Shop Warehouse in Wilkinsburg during a nine-day search there in August and September. Those items have since been returned to the Oliver Room, which remains closed.
In total, $1.1 million worth of stolen items have been recovered through the efforts of Pall Mall, the DA’s office and the art collecting community, the complaint said.
The most valuable item stolen, which has been recovered, is Isaac Newton's "Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica," valued at $900,000.
The most valuable item still missing, according to the complaint is, "The Journal of...," by George Washington, listed as being worth $250,000.
The list of items stolen from Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's Oliver Room:
According to statements made by Mr. Priore and included in the 36-page criminal complaint, the conspiracy between the two men began in the the late 1990s.
Mr. Priore told detectives during a search of his home on August 24 that he approached Mr. Schulman first about selling items from the Oliver Room, and Mr. Schulman, who owns Caliban with his wife, Emily Hetzel, who is not charged, agreed to do it.
According to the complaint, Mr. Priore would remove maps, plates and books from the Oliver Room, and Mr. Schulman paid him and then sold them through his store.
“Priore was unable to recall what he first gave Schulman to sell; however, he believes it may have been a map. Priore explained that he would remove maps and plates from books held within the Oliver Room,” the complaint said. “Some books were in poor condition and the maps or plates would easily come out and sometimes he would use an x-acto knife to remove them from the books. When removing items from the Oliver Room, Priore stated that he did not always conceal removing items from the premises.”
Since the library is only a block from Caliban, and Mr. Priore would pass the book store on his way home from work, he told detectives he would sometimes stop by and personally give items to Mr. Schulman to sell. Their agreement, Mr. Priore said, was that Mr. Schulman paid him up front. Mr. Priore said there were occasions when he would take items to Mr. Schulman several times a month, but sometimes he’d go for months without selling anything.
Occasionally, Mr. Priore told investigators, Mr. Schulman would call or text him with requests for specific items from the Oliver Room, like for example, if he was going to a book fair.
“Priore stated that although he initiated contact with Schulman back in the late 1990s, as the years went by Schulman got very comfortable asking him to remove specific items from the Oliver Room. On a few occasions Schulman returned books back to Priore when the books were found to have no value. There were also times when Priore would take an item from the Oliver Room to sell to Schulman if he was in need of money.”
Mr. Priore said that he was paid most often by check but sometimes in cash. The range he was paid per item, Mr. Priore said, was between $500 and $3,000. He estimated to detectives that he stole “several hundred items over the years,” and received $40,000 to $50,000.
However, bank records from Jan. 1, 2010, though Sept. 1, 2017, showed that Mr. Priore received 56 checks made payable to him by Caliban Book Shop totaling $117,700, and that, from Nov. 29, 2010, through July 5, 2017, he made cash deposits of $17,000, the complaint said.
He guessed that the last time he sold anything to Mr. Schulman was in December 2016 because he knew an audit was planned for the next year.
“After learning of this information, Priore notified Schulman about the pending audit,” the complaint said. “Following that conversation, Priore and Schulman spoke about trying to cover things up. Priore stated that he told Schulman, ‘I’ll take the blame.’ According to Priore, Schulman replied, ‘No, I was in on it, too.”
In addition to the evidence provided to detectives by Mr. Priore, the complaint includes statements by other witnesses who said they heard Mr. Schulman discussing materials to be sold from the library.
According to the complaint, Jennifer Jarvis, a library employee from the early 2000s, told detectives that she was working in the closed stacks of the library one day and saw Mr. Schulman looking at books with Mr. Priore.
“She knew that this area was closed to the public and was concerned as to why he was allowed in the area. She heard the two discussing plates that were inside of a book and how much they would be worth individually if removed from the book,” the complaint said. “Jarvis said that she was shocked by this discussion because she felt that you should not do that to these rare books.”
And Patrick Dowd, a library board member, was in the Caliban Book Shop on April 7, 2018, the complaint said, and heard Mr. Schulman speaking with an unidentified person on the phone. Mr. Dowd told investigators he did not know Mr. Schulman was a suspect at that time, but that he recognized he was talking about the library investigation.
Among the statements Mr. Dowd said he heard Mr. Schulman make:
• “’If it doesn’t come to that much I can just settle it,’” and said that his parents have money to help in the future
• “Library ran sloppily and they will need to answer for what happened
• “He seemed dismissive of ‘the librarian’ and said he will be the person to blame since he has assets
• “The Allegheny County DA is not interested in any deal because he wants to make this political
• “He is worried about his wife and said that she is angry at him for dealing with this guy and accepting whatever he was told
• “Said that the Jefferson didn’t come from him -- that is rare.”
The Jefferson being referred to, it appears in the complaint, is the book “De la France et des Etats-Unis,” a 1787 first edition signed by Thomas Jefferson. That book, the complaint said, was purchased from Caliban by Bartleby's Books for $5,000 on July 15, 2013. It has since been sold to two separate book dealers, the most recent being Bauman Rare Books, located in New York and New Jersey.
The complaint also details the items recovered from the Caliban warehouse and notes that Pall Mall appraiser Christiana Scavuzzo was asked to assist detectives there in identifying items that had been reported stolen from the library.
She identified 18 items that she said had been "cannibalized," from books at the library and another 24 that were taken as a whole.
The detectives wrote in the complaint that Ms. Scavuzzo later took each map and plate recovered and returned them to the books that had been left behind in the Oliver Room -- many of them in boxes on top shelves, she said, as if they’d been hidden.
“Scavuzzo was able to match maps and plates which were removed from these books based upon matching the tear marks and/or matching page stains or discolorations. There were also several Edward Curtis prints found during the search of the warehouse, which were seized and returned to the Oliver Room. The actual Curtis books were not removed from the Oliver Room. The prints were instead removed from the books, rendering the actual book a total loss. These works, according to the appraisal done by PMAA, are ‘A monumental work. Curtis’ North American Indian Portfolio is considered the finest and most valuable ever done on the American and Alaskan Indian and Eskimo’.”
The complaint said that approximately 1,500 original Edward Curtis North American photographs were discovered to be missing.
Records show that Caliban listed 231 such photographs on Ebay and received 171 Paypal payments for those, the complaint said.
In addition, during the warehouse search, detectives also seized sales receipts for 42 Curtis prints sold between May 21, 2009, and July 16, 2009.
Other evidence detailed in the complaint included an email Mr. Schulman sent to the operator of an online search engine for old, rare and out of print books for sale worldwide. Mr. Schulman sent the operator an email in May 2017 in which he asked that the “ghost record’ for a book he once sold be removed from the site so it would no longer appear in future Google searches.
According to the operator, the item for which Mr. Schulman requested records be deleted was “Newton's Principia Mathematica,” which he sold, the complaint said, for $95,000 jointly to Bartleby’s Books and London book dealer Peter Harrington on July 15, 2013.
In an email, Mr. Schulman said he wanted the records “purge” because the library “under new management is protesting that I should not have bought it from them, and I'd like to protect Harrington and me from getting harassed while I sort it out.’”
According to the complaint, after the book was purchased by Bartleby’s and Mr. Harrington, it was sold to a private buyer for more than $191,000. However, since the theft came to light, it was returned to Mr. Harrington, who returned the book to the DA’s office. In addition, the private buyer has been reimbursed by Mr. Harrington.
The owner of Bartleby’s John Thompson, told detectives that he questioned Mr. Schulman about the sale of the Newton, which had Carnegie Library markings inside. Mr. Schulman told Mr. Thompson, the complaint said, that the library had a duplicate copy of the book. Mr. Schulman said he’d bought another book that same date and was given a letter by the library that the book had been deaccessioned.
“Thompson said that he trusted that since the other book had been deaccessioned by the library that he had the authority to sell the Newton as well.”
The criminal complaint notes that no books were ever authorized for deaccession from the Oliver Room.
Paula Reed Ward: pward@post-gazette.com, 412-263-2620 or on Twitter: @PaulaReedWard.
First Published: July 20, 2018, 1:11 p.m.
