Public Theft
Farhad Hakimzadeh, previous Chief Executive of the UK’s Iran Heritage Foundation (IHF) is a bad man! Last month he pleaded guilty to 14 counts of theft from the British and Bodleian Libraries and is due to be sentenced sometime in January. Over a period of eight years he systematically stole pages from rare book collections, about European engagement in the Middle East, using a scalpel to splice maps, illustrations and leaves of text into his own less valuable books. Of the ten British Library books he admits to vandalising he has caused an estimated £71,000 worth of damage. A single world map taken from a 1537 edition by Hans Holbein the Younger was alone worth £30,000. I agree with Dr Jensen that the worst thing about this case is that because Hakimzadeh has a ‘profound knowledge of the field [...] he actually knew the importance of what he was damaging’ (BBC News). In examinaing the 842 books viewed by Hakimzadeh over this period British Library staff believe 150 texts were multilated and that many of the stolen pages will be lost forever.
His activities only came to light after a library user notified staff of the missing pages and upon investigation Scotland Yard were alerted. In searching his £3m Knightsbridge flat a number of the stolen items were identified by matching bookworm holes with those of the original material. It makes me so angry when students steal widely available text books and as Hakimzadeh knew what he was destroying it just seems beyond belief. I don’t even think a prison sentence is enough punishment! At the very least his extensive personal library should be handed over to the public… seen as it’s every one of us that hes stolen from!
More: The Guardian, The Independent, The Telegraph.
The Defaced Books include:
Historia de la China From the writings of Father Matteo Ricci, an Italian Jesuit who travelled to China in 1582 and became the first western traveller to settle there. First published in Latin in 1615. This copy was printed in Spain in 1621. Ricci learned to speak and write Chinese and his work was the first important and reliable European description of the country.
Novus Orbis An anthology of works by Simon Grynaeus, professor of Greek at Basle. Hakimzadeh removed an engraving of a world map drawn by Hans Holbein the Younger, court painter to Henry VIII.
Mithridates By the English dramatist Nathaniel Lee. Published in 1693.
Ost-indian-und Persianische Reisen By Johann Gottlieb Worm, the German philosopher who accompanied an envoy of the Dutch East India Company sent to the Safavid court in Persia in 1717. He travelled to Isfahan from India via Bandar. Published in 1745.
That's me... Lex Rigby
