Hidden Books Return Home

A group of rare books that once guided missionaries to China have finally made their way back to Italy. These volumes, dating from the 1500s and filled with early scientific ideas about stars, bodies, and machines, were kept in a large Jesuit archive in Rome. Between 1999 and 2002, about forty of them were taken by thieves who hoped to sell the items to collectors. Years later, a team of investigators from many places – the Vatican, Hong Kong, and even an American university – traced the missing books. In Manhattan, six of them were handed over to Italian authorities after a week‑long search. The full set is worth roughly $400, 000 and scholars say it holds great cultural, artistic, and scientific importance.

The books had been loaned to the University of Notre Dame from a Chinese owner who originally bought them at an online auction more than twenty years ago. The university staff were not aware that the books had been stolen, and they returned them promptly when asked. Investigators are still working to find the original buyer and the auction house that sold the books, so they have not released those details. The recovery shows how international cooperation can protect historic treasures and bring them back to their rightful homes.

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