Detectives found over the course of the investigation that several of the missing items had been sold or advertised for sale by Caliban Book Shop, including the 17th-century book The Merchants Mappe of Commerce and plates also from that century titled “America…The Latest and Most Accurate Description of the New World.” 
 
 About seven items valued at $1,152,100 have been officially recovered as of July 2018, including a copy of Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica by Isaac Newton, which was valued at over $800,000. A closer inspection comparing the room’s contents with the last appraisal done in 1991 found that about 320 items were missing from the room and 16 were vandalized by the removal of certain portions of the book, according to the complaint. Detectives with the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office began investigating the Oliver Room in June 2017 after a scheduled appraisal found “multiple items as being missing or damaged,” according to the criminal complaint filed Friday against Priore and Schulman. Administrators told investigators that no item from the Oliver Room was ever requested or authorized to be removed from listed holdings for sale purposes, according to the affidavit. A motion filed by prosecutors and signed by Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas Judge David Cashman froze two bank accounts related to John Schulman’s Caliban Book Shop, arguing that the funds might eventually be needed to pay restitution. A hearing about the frozen bank accounts is scheduled for Monday, according to local news reports. Schulman dealt the purloined items on eBay and other online platforms, according to investigators, though it is not clear how much money he allegedly made from the transactions. Between 2010 and 2017, meanwhile, Priore garnered roughly $117,000 in checks from the bookstore, authorities have determined, and he purportedly deposited $17,000 in cash over the same time period. The prosecution also sought to freeze Priore’s bank accounts. Priore was appointed sole archivist and manager of the Oliver Room in 1992 and was responsible for granting access and supervising visitors to the room, including other CLP staff members. A criminal investigation began in late June 2017 after administrators at the library filed a complaint. Their scheme was successful until it came crashing down in August, when authorities conducted a nine-day search of Caliban’s warehouse in Wilkinsburg. He admitted to investigators that he approached Schulman about selling items from the room in the ‘90s but that Schulman later “goaded” him to continue. Art appraisers helped detectives identify scores of stolen items at the Caliban warehouse, material that has since been returned to the Oliver Room. Schulman faces 20 charges, most of them felonies, including forgery, theft and conspiracy for his alleged part in a scheme that saw $8 million worth of rare books smuggled from the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh’s Oliver Room over nearly two decades.
– When appraisers discovered $8 million in rare books missing from the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, investigators knew where to turn. As archivist and manager of the William R. Oliver Special Collections Room for 25 years, Gregory Priore let visitors in—and, allegedly, let some 320 items out. According to police, Priore, 61, agreed to sell stolen titles, maps, and plates, along with pages from 16 books, to John Schulman, owner of rare book store Caliban. Authorities say Priore received $100,000 in checks from Caliban and $17,000 in cash between 2010 and 2017, when the thefts were uncovered, per Pitt News. After missing items were found to have been sold by Caliban, a warehouse search uncovered 42 stolen items worth $260,000, according to police. A copy of a book by Isaac Newton, valued at more than $800,000, has also been recovered. "Greed came over me," Priore allegedly told investigators of what the Washington Post calls one of the largest library thefts in history, involving a still-missing book by George Washington and another signed by Thomas Jefferson. According to an affidavit, Priore said he first suggested the scheme in the 1990s to Schulman, who'd legally purchased other items from the library, "but Schulman spurred me on." The 54-year-old Schulman, whose shop is a block from the library, requested specific items from Priore, per police. Both men were charged last week with multiple counts, including theft, conspiracy, and forgery. Schulman has also had his bank accounts frozen, reports the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. In a statement, the Carnegie Library says it is "deeply disappointed that two people we knew well and trusted are at the center of this case." (Book thieves also rappel from skylights.)