Pushkin’s editions, stolen from European libraries, estimated at €2m+

The price of the first editions of the works of Alexander Pushkin and other Russian classics – stolen from leading European libraries – exceeded €2m, TASS reports

Librarians ‘across the continent’ have discovered that rare and valuable first editions of the works of Pushkin and other famous 19th century Russian writers have been replaced with counterfeit books. The Berlin State Library is the latest on the list of institutions to report missing books. Three works by Pushkin disappeared from its collections: The Robber Brothers, Boris Godunov and The Prisoner of the Caucasus. Moreover, the first editions of futuristic books by Alexandra Exter and poet Alexei Kruchenykh were stolen. The cost of the works is estimated at several hundred thousand Euros.

It is noted that the fakes are made at a high level.

“It is necessary to use a magnifying glass to identify inaccuracies, such as small dots in the print, an incorrect stamp or other paper,” said Berlin State Library spokeswoman Barbara Heindl.

Earlier, it was reported on the theft from Lithuania’s Vilnius University reading room, where 17 lifetime editions of works by Gogol, Lermontov and Pushkin were stolen – worth about €440 thousand. The library of the University of Tartu in Estonia lost eight rare publications worth about €158 thousand, and two valuable publications were stolen from the National Library of Latvia.