WASHINGTON — A stolen volume of William Shakespeare’s collected plays, published in 1623 and worth about $2.5 million, has been recovered after antiquarian detective work by experts at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington — where a mysterious man presented the precious book several weeks ago.
Police in Durham, in northeastern England, on Friday were questioning a 51-year-old man in connection with the case after an international search for suspects. The book, known as Shakespeare’s First Folio — the first published collection of the bard’s plays seven years after his death — was stolen from Durham University in 1998.
Shakespeare scholars and rare-book lovers on both sides of the Atlantic hailed the news.
The break in the case came June 16 when a man with a British accent arrived without an appointment at the Folger library on Capitol Hill.
He had an old book and a strange story to go with it: He said the work was from a family library in Cuba, and he was representing the family.
He wanted the experts at Folger to tell him whether it was a genuine and important volume by Shakespeare.
“From time to time, people have asked us to help them to figure out what a book might be,” said Garland Scott, head of external relations for the library, which has one of the world’s largest Shakespeare collections, including 79 First Folios. “On the other hand, usually those people have called or e-mailed beforehand. It’s a little unusual to just show up.”
Librarian Richard Kuhta saw the man and examined the book.
“It was clear to Richard immediately that this is something important,” Scott said.
The library contacted the FBI, and police in Durham were notified by the British Embassy in Washington.
Officers of the Durham Constabulary arrested the suspect on suspicion of theft Thursday, and he was still being questioned late Friday, local time. A police spokesman said he also could be charged with handling stolen property.
It could not immediately be determined whether the man in custody is the man who visited the Folger. The suspect lives in a modest brick two-bedroom home in a working- class neighborhood of Washington, England.
There was a silver Ferrari in his driveway and Armani suits in the closets. The man lived there with his mother, who is in her 80s. The small home was crammed full of antique books. The mother — who told police her son “buys and sells books” — has been moved out by police who were searching the home Friday.
“It’s come back after all this time, and there is an interesting tale to it,” said Charlie Westberg, a spokesman for the Durham Constabulary in an interview.
The home where the man was arrested is about a 15-minute drive from the university where it was stolen.
