Some Strange Thefts

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 275, 10 February 1928, Page 1

Some Strange Thefts

WHAT LIBRARY LOSES Curious Tastes Revealed ‘‘l COULD not help it, sir. ... I simply adore Pavlova! ' 1 The obvious distress of the girl was undoubtedly complimentary to the adorable Anna, but it certainly was not a sufficient excuse for the surreptitious removal of the photograph of the famous danseuse from a magazine in the reference section of the Auckland Librarv.

incident actually took place in this city. A law student who purloined books from the Auckland Library last year was severely dealt with by a magistrate. The library thief is one of the most despicable in the community, and. incidentally, one of the most difficult to detect. Auckland, in common with other New Zealand cities, suffers from pilfering fingers.

Yet—here is a tip for those who would damage or mutilate in this manner the intending thief should make quite certain that a plainclothes detective is NOT sitting by his side. The ANNA PAVLOVA police on more than one occasion have materially assisted the Auckland authorities. The girl who admired Pavlova so much that she could not resist cutting out her picture was but one. Fortunately she was detected. The magazines and periodicals suffer continually, it is plain to see from a perusal of records, from such vandals. GREY COLLECTION SAFE

The really valuable works such as those in the Grey and Shaw collections, however, are under glass. Personal application must be made to the

librarian to peruse them. As for the others the public is trusted, and not always wisely though the supervision is strict and constant. To return to the "closed system” of administration would be unfair to those who do act honourably. Yet this is a question which librarians must seriously consider if abuse continues. Take some of the cases. It must have been a cold-blooded villain who removed several pages from the Encyclopaedia Britannica, from the N.S.W. Postal Directory, and from the New Zealand Director!'. Ho had not the excuse of the girl who stole Anna’s portrait. Then there are the curious who hack pages from the Practice of Surgery. Anatomy for Students, or the Enevclopaeda Medica. There are the fleshily inclined who cannot look at an art volume unless they purloin the illustrations of scantily clad women. These works suffer more than any others in the library. Norman Lindsay's buxom ladies, repugnant even to his admirers, have a subtle fascination for these thieves. One even stole some plates cf Tahitian beauties from Robert Rey’s "Life of Gauguin." MUTILATED VOLUMES The Government Gazette pamphlets on gas engines, yachting, singing, cricket, piano-playing Church of England statistical reports; Elsdon Best's “The Maori”; Masefield’s and Drinkwater's writings; Chinese poems; atlases—all have suffered in turn. In some cases the entire volume was removed, in others but a few pages. There are even instances of the hook or magazine being returned in a mutilated condition. One vandal mutilated a copy of Dore's illustrations of Dante’s "Vision of- Hell.” Another, an admirer maybe of "The Welsh Wizard,” removed a portrait of Lloyd George from the statesman’s life by Raymond. Yet another stole 37 pages from the report of the international conference on birth control.