Editing Widener Library (section)

===Gutenberg Bible theft===
[[File:HarryElkinsWidener Letter 1912March10 p2 final paragraphs.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|"Now I will tell you a secret&nbsp;... I wish it was for me but it is not." {{shy|Harry Wide|ner's letter con|fid|ing his grand|father's pur|chase of the "Hoe copy"{{clarify|date=November 2023}} of the [[Gutenberg bible]], which the Widener family later gave to Harvard.}} ]]

On the night of August 19, 1969 an attempt was made to steal the library's Gutenberg Bible, valued at $1{{nbsp}}million{{r|suspect}} (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US-GDP|1|1969|r=0}} million in {{Inflation-year|US-GDP}}).{{Inflation-fn|US-GDP}}
Equipped with a hammer, pry bar, and other burglarious implements,
the 20-year-old would-be thief{{r|suspect}} hid in a lavatory until after closing, then made his way to the roof, from which he descended via a knotted rope to break through a Memorial Room<!--<<check name of Memorial vs. Collection rooms>--> window.
But after smashing the bible's display case and placing its two volumes in a knapsack, he found the additional 70 pounds (32{{nbsp}}kg) made it impossible for him to reclimb the rope.{{r|klepts|p=D}}

Eventually he fell some {{convert|50|ft|m}}{{r|houghton_chron|p=45}} to the pavement of one of the light courts, where he lay semicon{{shy}}scious{{r|slips}}
until his moans were heard by a janitor;{{r|houghton_chron|p=45}}
he was found about 1{{nbsp}}a.m.{{r|grace}}
with injuries including a fractured skull.{{r|slips}}
"It looks like a profes{{shy}}sion{{shy}}al job all right, in the fact that he came down the rope," commented [[Harvard Police Department|Harvard Police]] Chief [[Robert Tonis]]. "But it doesn't look very profes{{shy}}sion{{shy}}al that he fell off."{{hsp}}{{r|suspect}}
Tonis specu{{shy}}lated that the attempt may have been modeled on a similar caper depicted in the 1964 film{{thinsp}}''[[Topkapi (film)|Topkapi]]'',{{r|grace}}
though a retired Harvard librarian later commented that the thief (who was later judged insane){{r|caper}} "evidently knew nothing about books{{mdashb}}or, at least, about selling them{{nbsp}}... There was no explanation of what he expected to do with the Bible."{{hsp}}{{r|metcalf1988|p=72}}

Only the books' bindings (which were "not valuable [and] did just what a good binding is supposed to do: they protected the inside contents"){{r|suspect}} were damaged.{{r|slips}}
Since the incident only one or the other Bible volume is on display at any given time{{r|klepts|p=E}}
and a replica has been substituted at times of heightened security concern.{{NoteTag
|{{r|crime_1969}}
Extensive news coverage of the theft attempt triggered a flurry of inquiries to Harvard about the potential value of family bibles and Gutenberg-related bric-a-brac.{{ran|B|pp=146-7}}
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