Book thefts and recovery: How the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers Use Stolen-book.org
"Reporting and retracing stolen books might to the uninitiated seem like an herculean mission, with vast edition runs and reproductions it can seem impossible to identify a stolen copy even if it would re-emerge on the market. However, as with most objects years of love and use have set their marks also on these once indistinguishable edition copies and the people involved with the books can often recognize ‘their’ copy at a glance. Here we shall consider the leading stolen book database stolen-book.org, which works with the venerable task of reuniting books with their owners."
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"Stolen-book.org is the largest specialized stolen book database currently in existence and most dealers and major auction houses rely on their email alerts in order to keep up with stolen printed material and manuscripts."
An interesting article about ILAB's efforts to cope with book thefts and to catch book thieves as quickly as possible. A. M. C. Knutsson describes the Stolen Book Database of the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers and its worldwide influence: