17 rare books stolen from ex-MoMA president's Long Island home recovered decades later
Seventeen rare books, worth millions of dollars, that were stolen from venture capitalist John Hay Whitney's Long Island home decades ago have been recovered.
Whitney was an avid art collector who had thousands of rare books. At least 28 of them were stolen between 1982 and 1989. The Whitney family reported them missing in 1989 to the Nassau County Police Department.
They include works from famous authors, including John Keats, Oscar Wilde and James Joyce.
Whitney himself lived a storied life. He was a highly decorated World War II veteran, publisher of the New York Herald Tribune, the president of the Museum of Modern Art and the U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom.
Books turn up over 30 years later
Decades after the rare books in the Whitney family's private collection vanished, investigators found a lead.
"We were able to trace them down to South Carolina in 2006," said Matthew Bogdanos, chief of the Antiquities Trafficking Unit.
But the trail went cold.
A portion of the books resurfaced in January 2025 in Manhattan when a person tried to sell them to two separate rare book dealers, according to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
"While the family reported these works missing in 1989, they had not reappeared on the market until quite recently in 2025, right here in Manhattan, when an individual attempted to sell them," Bragg said.
The man took the books to B&B Rare Books and Adam Weinberger Rare Books, where he told staff he inherited them from his grandfather.
Both dealers contacted law enforcement after discovering the books were listed on the Art Loss Register. Six search warrants in 2025 and 2026 were executed, and the books were seized.
However, part of the mystery remains. Authorities cleared the man who tried selling the books because he wasn't born at the time they went missing. He said he inherited them from his late grandfather.
"We have not identified any specific individual for the theft or thefts," Bogdanos said.
Books returned to Whitney family
In 2026, a state Supreme Court judge ordered the books to be returned to the Whitney family.
"My grandparents were extraordinary collectors. This is one example of their taste and their skill," Peter di Bonaventura, the grandson of John Hay Whitney, said.
An investigation into how the books were stolen from the estate and the status of the remaining 11 missing is ongoing, according to prosecutors.
"Manhattan is the cultural capital of the world, home to museums, galleries, and dealers displaying incredible artworks and antiquities. Yet the integrity of this marketplace is undermined when stolen items are on display," Bragg said. "We will not allow our borough to be a center for trafficked art and antiquities, and I thank our team of prosecutors and investigators for their work on this case."
Letters worth $2 million being returned
Among the books being returned is a bound collection of 37 love letters written by the British poet John Keats to his fiancée, Fanny Brawne. It has eight of the original handwritten letters, including the first letter he ever wrote to her.
Fanny's children sold them at an auction in 1885, after she died. The sale inspired Oscar Wilde to write a sonnet titled "On the Sale By Auction of Keats' Love Letters."
"Second book 'De Profundis' by Oscar Wilde, also captures a tragic love story, but a different one. It's the love story between Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas. Another book you will see before you is the Empress Josephine's copy of the 1812 Imperial Almanac. Empress Josephine, married to Napoleon. 'Finnegans Wake' by James Joyce; it is signed by the author. And then finally 'Household Stories' by the Brothers Grimm," Bogdanos said.
The family plans to auction the books and donate the proceeds. They are collectively worth nearly $3 million.
