Dear RAE,
Is it true that many of Mudd's rare books were stolen a few years ago, possibly by a collector?
J/W (just wondering)
Yes, it's true that a lot of valuable books were stolen — and recovered — several years ago. This happened in 1981 in a celebrated case involving a professional book thief (I'm not sure I'd call him a collector) who was caught right here in Mudd. In fact he was stopped at the front entrance, hardly ten feet from this bulletin board. The case drew a lot of attention from the national media and put my predecessor (a.k.a WAM) into the national limelight. The thief was eventually sent away for ten years in federal prison. He served four before being paroled. The books he tried to make off with? They're now securely stored in Special Collections.
—RAE 2/21/94