"I got it on eBay...it was a steal!'

"Extremely poorly paid individuals are surrounded by beauty – and now extreme value"

So much money sloshing about the world, and some willing to do anything to get some of it:

Thefts of rare books, maps and manuscripts from national libraries have sparked such alarm that international experts are joining forces to stop any further vandalism to the world’s cultural heritage.

Lawyers and librarians, booksellers and auctioneers will descend on the British Library next month for a major conference whose title – The Written Heritage of Mankind in Peril – conveys the seriousness of the problem.

The first conference of its kind follows a series of devastating thefts from libraries. The losses include volumes created hundreds of years ago, some mutilated by having single sheets brutally removed with scalpels.

Tens of thousands of historic books and manuscripts are thought to be missing, according to a leading art lawyer, Chris Marinello, head of London-based company Art Recovery International.

 Edward Forbes Smiley stole a 1520 map from the British Library that was recovered. Photograph: Bob Child/AP

Marinello said: “In the past, libraries were aware of the value of their books, but not necessarily [their] contents … That material was never really catalogued or scanned.” Thieves with razors and scissors have been able to walk away with extremely valuable objects. He added: “Library security has to improve. They’ve been kind of shocked into that.”

 He believes the number of such thefts is increasing because criminals are seeing prices for legitimate sales soar into seven figures. The 1640 Bay Psalm Book was sold by Sotheby’s for a record £8.73m in November 2013.

The conference takes place on 26 June. The keynote speech will be delivered by Prof Norman Palmer QC, one of the UK’s foremost legal experts on cultural issues. He said: “We hear a lot about the theft of art and antiquities. Less prominent are illegal takings from libraries. Books, manuscripts and archives have tended to be – certainly in terms of legal scrutiny – a bit of a Cinderella.”