The Stolen Folio

William Shakespeare contributed more phrases and sayings to the English language than perhaps any other individual. Due to his reverence the original folios are much prized possessions, so when a first edition was stolen from Durham University in 1998 this was understandably seen as a disaster.

The book surfaced when librarian Richard Kuhta had it presented to him by Raymond Scott in Washington DC in an attempt to sell it. Mr Scott denies taking the book from Durham University more than ten years ago. Experts subsequently identified the book as a 1623 printing that was stolen and alerted the authorities.

Perhaps tragically for such an artefact, it had been badly damaged, with pages torn out and its bindings and cover removed. Mr Scott is currently on trial accused of the theft. Even though it is damaged experts have valued the book at one million pounds, a significant haul had he got away with it.

Mr Kuhta told Newcastle Crown Court "He said he'd inherited his father's construction building supplies business and had sold it and as a result he was very comfortably off.

"He said he had something to show me. He started flicking through the pages very quickly showing me it was a first edition. "I was startled by the way in which the book was being handled and by the sudden realisation that the man seemed to know it was a first edition.

"My heart sank. It was a feeling of sadness to think we were dealing with stolen property. "The collections are what we live for, preserving them, building them, making them accessible. ”This is one of the most important books not just in the history of literature but in the English language."

One has to wonder how someone in such a position had thought that he would ever be able to sell it. After all, such an item would need to be authenticated first, which would highlight where it had come from. Perhaps Mr Scott knew that he would get nowhere near the full value of the item, but either thought that the right buyer would desire the item sufficiently to buy it for a personal collection, or simply that they would not bother to check too many details.

Either way, it was a risky strategy from the outset. The outcome of the court case will certainly be an interesting one.