RES-P-Ym. This is the reference number that has the National Library of France (BNF) in a cold sweat. In the fall of 2023, conservation agents were checking on Russian works of great value registered under this reference, housed in the prestigious Rare Book Reserve at the Tolbiac site in Paris. The department preserves the institution's greatest treasures, from Latin incunabula (printed before the 16th century) to the final page proof of Charles Baudelaire's poetry volume Fleurs du Mal (The Flowers of Evil, 1857). Among these 200,000 precious documents, the collection holds 11 first editions of Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837), rarities published during the great Russian poet's lifetime.
The BNF's collections managers were on the alert because they knew that another Russian collection in Paris was the victim of an attempted theft: On the night of October 10, someone broke into the University Library of Languages and Civilizations (BULAC) and left empty-handed. The library's director made the connection with two men who had come the day before to ask for Pushkin originals, which she had refused to give them. A first red flag had come from the Diderot library in Lyon, where 10 other original editions by Pushkin were stolen in July 2023, including a first edition of Boris Godunov (1825), estimated at €70,000. Since then, libraries with historical collections have been on the alert.
In the BNF's rare book reserve, everything seems to be in place, and the collections department shared its relief in an internal email: "Several thefts have recently been reported in libraries (in Lyon, at the BULAC). These thefts particularly concern Russian first editions, notably Pushkin. A check has been carried out on the documents in the Ym collection that have been requested over the past six months: all the works are present." But the feeling of reassurance was short-lived. A closer look at the Pushkin editions revealed that the originals had been replaced by facsimiles. These are finely crafted copies, the work of seasoned forgers, which only an experienced eye can detect. A careful count revealed that nine works had been stolen: eight by Pushkin and a rare 1840 publication by one of his contemporaries, Mikhail Lermontov (1814-1841), who also died in a gun duel.
The BNF declined to comment on the incident but confirmed that a complaint was filed in November 2023. The complaint states that a man in his 40s, accredited as a researcher, came on some 40 occasions between March and October 2023 to consult the stolen originals. Another man had previously scouted out the rare book room, taking numerous photographs of the works – perhaps to offer them to buyers before exfiltrating them, suspects the Central Office for Combating the Trafficking of Cultural Property (OCBC), in charge of the investigation. The library estimates the value of the loot at €450,000.
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