The New York Public Library owes Donald Davis, proprietor of East Village Books on St. Marks Place, a debt of gratitude.  Davis recently nabbed Andrew Hansen, a book thief who has repeatedly stolen from the NYPL.  Hanson has been stealing from the library for years and the NYPL had distributed his picture to bookshops throughout the city. Hansen stole numerous books from the library and then attempted to sell them off to local bookstores.  Davis had unwittingly fallen for Hansen's scheme in the past and vowed to apprehend Hanson if he ever came back to his store.  Hansen did return and Davis was ready for him.  Davis confronted the thief and then tackled Hansen and subdued him until authorities arrived.  Hansen was arrested and charged with burglary and criminal possession of stolen property. Of the incident, Davis said, "There’s no other situation where I would do this. I was so angry that he was stealing from the library.  The library is just a very important piece of our community.”  Agreed!

If you need to report a missing or stolen book, please contact us at hq@abaa.org and we will post it on our Security blog.     

East Village bookshop owner busts library thief