A rare book is back in Pittsburgh thanks to the sharp eyes and honesty of the director of a museum in the Netherlands.

The FBI and the Allegheny County (Pittsburgh) District Attorney made the announcement at a news conference to display the 1615 Geneva Bible , one of 321 rare items stolen from the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that the Bible was purchased by a Leiden American Pilgrim Museum in June 2015 for $1,200. Investigators won't say who sold it to them. When the museum director read about the Carnegie theft and realized he had one of the stolen books, he immediately alerted the Carnegie Library.

"One could only imagine the journey this particular Bible has taken." Robert Allan Jones, FBI Pittsburgh Office

Two men are charged with stealing more than $8 million dollars in historic books and other items from the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's rare books room. Gregory Priore, the Oliver Room's archivist, is accused of taking the items, which also included rare maps, and illustrations or "plates" removed from books, and giving them to rare book seller John Schulman. The scheme was discovered during a 2017 inventory which turned up the missing items.

The Geneva Bible will be returned to the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. The court case against Priore and Schulman is continuing.

( Image: Wikipedia , where you can also read all about why the Geneva Bible was so important in history)