A prolific art thief has been sentenced to three years in prison after cutting a 350-year-old map out of an antique atlas at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. The rare map, printed in 1684 and known as Nova Orbis Tabula, remains missing, and police are appealing for information about its whereabouts.
Theft at the Caird Library
Melvin West, 73, was caught on camera slicing up the antique atlas and pocketing a map after asking to view it at the museum on February 26 last year. Staff raised the alarm after finding a knife left on the ground in the room where West had been reading the book, which contained 12 historic maps.
The missing page is a celebrated example of a double hemisphere world map by seventeenth-century Dutch cartographer Frederick de Wit. The map is famous for its elaborate artwork, zodiac signs, and cherubs, and for portraying California as an island, as explorers believed at the time.
Investigation and arrest
After reviewing CCTV footage, detectives found that West had visited the library three times to case out security. He had even registered for a library reader's card under the name Melville West. Detectives identified West as a thief with multiple convictions in Europe for stealing pages from valuable antique books.
Officers obtained a search warrant and arrested West at an address in Chingford on 4 March 2025. He answered no comment to questions asking where the map was now or whether he had sold it. The map remains missing.
Appeal and sentencing
DC Sophie Hayes, of the Met's Art and Antiques Unit, said: 'We are appealing to anyone who has knowledge of the map's whereabouts to do the right thing and contact the Metropolitan Police so that it can be returned to the library.'
'The Caird Library is an internationally important resource, used by scholars the world over. Thefts like this mean the only people who profit from these beautiful artefacts are the thieves themselves. This case demonstrates our determination to bring offenders to justice.'
A Royal Museums Greenwich spokesperson said: 'We are pleased the criminal case, on which we co-operated closely with the Metropolitan Police's Art and Antiques Unit, has been brought to a close.'
West, of Old Church Road, Chingford, was charged on 23 February 2025 with theft, criminal damage and possession of a bladed article. He was sentenced to three years' imprisonment at Woolwich Crown Court on Thursday, 22 October after pleading guilty at Bromley Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, 19 May. The judge also imposed a 10-year Criminal Behaviour Order preventing West from being alone in any reading room of a museum or library in England and Wales.
