Lost and Found

Sweden Recovers Stolen Books

Worth Nearly A Quarter Million

Two stolen books, together worth $255,000, sat unassumingly on the shelves of a rare-books store in Baltimore for more than ten years. In a ceremony on Wednesday, they were returned to their rightful owner: the National Library of Sweden. "Das illustrate Mississippithal” and "Description de la Louisiane," both early chronicles of European exploration of the New World, were traced by the FBI from a German auction house to the shop in Maryland. The books are among the 56 rare texts that senior librarian Anders Burius stole and sold to auction-houses before being he was discovered in 2004. There are still 52 books unaccounted for.