Keats’s love letters among rare books returned to heirs 40 years after theft

Tuesday, April 21, 2026

Manhattan authorities have returned 17 rare stolen books, including John Keats’s 37 love letters, to the heirs of John Hay Whitney after recovering them in 2023 following a decades-old theft. Valued at nearly $3 million, the recovered volumes highlight ongoing efforts to combat cultural artifact trafficking as authorities continue seeking the remaining missing books from the Whitney estate.

A cache of rare and valuable books stolen more than 40 years ago is being returned to the heirs of the original owners following a recent recovery by Manhattan authorities. The collection, which includes a bound set of 37 love letters by poet John Keats and works by authors such as Oscar Wilde and James Joyce, had been taken from a Long Island residence in the 1980s.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg officially handed over 17 recovered volumes to the family of John Hay Whitney and Betsey Whitney on Wednesday. The books, appraised at nearly $3 million collectively, were found in 2023 after an individual attempted to sell them to rare-book dealers in New York City. The dealers, recognizing the items from a lost-works registry, notified law enforcement.

Bragg emphasized the city's commitment to preventing the illicit trade of cultural artifacts, stating that Manhattan, as a global cultural hub, will not tolerate the trafficking of art and antiquities. The returned materials are part of a larger group of at least 28 books believed stolen from the Whitney estate. Authorities continue to investigate the whereabouts of the remaining volumes.

Peter di Bonaventura, grandson of the late John Hay Whitney and Betsey Whitney, expressed surprise and gratitude upon the return of the collection. He acknowledged his grandparents’ status as notable collectors and called the recovery "a wonderful thing."

John Hay Whitney, a World War II veteran with a distinguished career as publisher of the New York Herald Tribune, president of the Museum of Modern Art, and U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom, passed away in 1982. The books were last officially recorded in the family’s inventory in 1982 but had disappeared by 1989. According to Matthew Bogdanos, chief of the antiquities trafficking unit at the Manhattan district attorney’s office, the estate was undergoing significant construction during the 1980s, and grounds were accessible to the public, which may have contributed to the theft.

Among the most valuable items recovered are Keats’s love letters to his fiancée, Fanny Brawne, dating from 1819 to 1820. These letters alone account for an estimated $2 million of the collection’s value. The heirs have indicated plans to auction the recovered books and to donate the proceeds.

Authorities continue to examine the case to clarify how the books were removed and to locate the missing volumes from the original theft.