The sad tale of the Oakland book theft drags on

There is no happy ending so far in Lawrence Van De Carr's search for his stolen 400 rare books and the van they were in.

Almost three weeks have gone by since the van was stolen Feb. 16 outside a North Oakland home on Whitmore Street where the Chicago rare book dealer was staying with a friend after attending a book show in Pasadena. He is now offering a reward of up to $3,000 for their recovery.

Van De Carr, 68, considers the lost volumes, worth an estimated $350,000, part of his family. He stayed in the East Bay more than two weeks after the theft trying to find the van and books on his own, to no avail. He has also provided a list of many of the books for an alert that was sent to book dealers across the country.

"I did quite a bit," he said by phone from Chicago. "I put a tremendous amount of effort out and, as out of sorts as I've been feeling, I'm pleased with what I did."

He personally scoured neighborhoods in Oakland and Concord where a suspect arrested in Berkeley trying to sell some of the books lives, and has been in contact with police and prosecutors and defense attorneys.

On Feb. 16, Berkeley police arrested Joshua Anderson, 30, who said he lived on Shakespeare Way in Concord, trying to sell four of the stolen books worth $13,000 at Moe's Bookstore on Telegraph Avenue. A second man has not been caught. Police were called by a store clerk who was aware of an earlier alert about the book thefts.

Anderson was charged with possession of stolen property for the stolen books and for possessing personal items of another man, including a checkbook and tax form. He was also charged with identity theft for having the other man's information. On Thursday, after a preliminary examination a judge ordered Anderson to stand trial on the possession of stolen property charge but not on the identity theft count because the victim was not found to testify.

Van De Carr says he has not given up hope and is optimistic he will be reunited at some point with some of the missing volumes. Among them are classic works of the likes of Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov -- he lost a first edition 1950 "I Robot" by Asimov "as new as the day it was published" that he values at $8,500 -- Edgar Rice Burroughs, Cormac McCarthy, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, John Steinbeck and Ansel Adams, to name a few.

He said the theft will not stop him from buying more rare books he can sell at antiquarian book fairs around the country or from returning to Oakland for visits. The Army veteran who saw combat in Vietnam said opening his first bookstore almost 40 years ago "gave me my freedom" and "independence." He now owns Bookleggers Used Books in Chicago that has about 75,000 novels and other works.

He said his calling is as a bookstore owner and dealer.

"I love it, I love it," he said. "It's fun. It makes your life satisfactory."

He firmly believes he will see some of the books again.

"Somewhere down the road some of the books will show up. It might be a year, or two years but that will keep me going. Life goes on. What can you do? I'm not going to give up. I'll persevere."

The books were in a 2008 Silver Ford Econoline van with Illinois license plate E914968. Anyone with information about the books and van may call Oakland police at 510-238-3728.