PITTSBURGH (Newsradio 1020 KDKA) – It’s back in Pittsburgh and soon will be back in the Carnegie Library in Oakland. A rare, 1615 edition of the Geneva Bible has been recovered from the American Pilgrim Museum in Leiden, Netherlands. The Bible is one of 320 items believed stolen the library’s Oliver Room rare books collection. Most are still missing.
Two men, former archivist Gregory Priore, 62, and rare books dealer John Schulman, 54, of Squirrel Hill are charged.
Pittsburgh FBI Special Agent Bob Jones and Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala held a news conference to display the returned volume.
Zappala credits the director of the museum in Leiden with realizing the Geneva Bible belonged to the Carnegie Library. Zappala calls him, “an honest man.”
“What he did is he contacted Carnegie Library. Then The Hague police and the FBI took it from there.”
Jones credits the FBI Art Crime Team with aiding in the return. They built a special box that was used to preserve the bible and transport it back to the U.S.
“One can only imagine the journey this particular Carnegie Library bible has taken after its printing in London 404 years ago,” said Jones.
The Oliver Room at the Carnegie Library has been closed since April of 2017 because it was a crime scene.
“We’re going to have a conversation about that because I don’t believe that area is necessary to the prosecution of the case,” said Zappala.
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