| If Bush and Rumsfeld had only dispatched more troops, this looting would not have.....oh, wait. |
The chief curator of France's national library was questioned by police yesterday as it emerged that the establishment is missing at least 30,000 books and manuscripts, including nearly 2,000 considered to be of "exceptional historical value". Michel Garel, in charge of the BibliothÚque Nationale's (BNF's) collection of ancient Hebrew manuscripts, is suspected of playing a part in the disappearance of 25 priceless manuscripts, five of them dating from the Middle Ages, and 121 printed pages torn from precious tomes of the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. The curator, who has denied the allegations, is the subject of one of half a dozen police inquiries into suspected thefts at the institution, which was founded in the 16th century and, as France's principal copyright and legal deposit library, holds some 35m books, documents, manuscripts, maps, plans and photos. EFL |