BIT WAS described as a "minor" theft at the time, but the Arabic manuscript taken from the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin on June 27th, 1991, is valued at about £0.25 million. That is a conservative" estimate, according to the library's new Islamic curator, Dr Anna Contadini.
The recovery by City of London police detectives arose on foot of a search warrant for the house of Mr Ronald Hartigan, who yesterday pleaded guilty to theft by handling at Middlesex Crown Court.
The raid is thought to have been linked to a well known Dublin criminal, at a time when there was a spate of art thefts in the Republic.
The 13th century atlas of the world as it was then known is illustrated by 21 maps. Entitled Suwar Al-Aqalim or Kitab Al-Masalik Wa-Al-Mamalik, it identifies the central Arab lands, from Palestine, Jordan, Syria and Iraq as far west as Morocco. A map of Al-Rumi shows the lands of the Romans, while Bilad Al-Sin is China.
The script, the paper and the style of drawings indicate the text's date, according to Dr Contadini. The Chester Beatty library has a 17th century copy, and there are several versions of the original, she says.
The manuscript will be cleaned and treated and the binding restored and it will be put on display as part of the library's collection in its new Dublin Castle premises next year. The bound atlas was on display in the garden library of the current Chester Beatty premises at Shrewsbury road, Dublin, when the break in occurred.
Almost all of the other items taken have been recovered.
The library played down the significance of the break in at the time, five years ago this month. An alarm was set off, but the raiders had gone by the time gardai arrived. At least two glass cases were broken and contents taken, and the library said it could have been "much worse".
The collection bequeathed for "the fuse and enjoyment" of the Irish public by the late mining millionaire, Sir Alfred Chester Beatty, includes one of the world's most important collections of Qur'ans, Egyptian papyri, Chinese jade books, Japanese prints, Persian paintings and Indian Moghul manuscripts and paintings.
The Islamic section is a "microcosm of Islamic culture", according to Dr Contadini, and the Qu'ran collection is "second only to Istanbul".
The recovery is the first since library material was found in a separate case involving the library's former Islamic curator, Dr David James. He served a jail sentence when he was found guilty by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court three years ago of the theft of artifacts valued at almost £450,000, taken over a period in the 1980s.
Much of this material was returned in late 1993 to the library's director, Dr Michael Ryan, by solicitors for a London based Islamic art collector, Dr Nasser David Khalili. Dr Khalili, a friend and employer of Dr James, said he had bought the material in good faith at auction and by private sale.
The London art dealer and friend of Princess Diana, Mr Oliver Hoare, also returned material to the Garda which he had bought from Dr James in good faith.
