$3,000 reward offered after van with rare books stolen in Oakland

The Chicago book dealer’s van filled with around 400 rare antiquarian books went missing outside of an Oakland condo last month, and with it, so did a potential $350,000 in sales.

In a final plea for the timeless titles, Van De Carr is offering a $3,000 reward for the return of his books.

Van De Carr had just finished one of his usual trips to Bay Area book fairs when he ended his West Coast visit by staying at a friend’s Oakland home in the 200 block of Whitmore Street.

The next day, Joshua Anderson, 30, of Concord, was arrested after he tried selling several of Van De Carr’s books to Moe’s Books in Berkeley, said Officer Jenn Coats, a Berkeley police spokeswoman.

With one suspect in custody, Van De Carr, owner of Booklegger’s Used Books in Chicago, hoped the suspected thief would lead authorities to the van.

Poems of Fantasy by Leah Bodine Drake, one of only 563 known copies; “No Country for Old Men” by Cormac McCarthy, “Always Comes Evening” by Robert E. Howard, and “Pylon” by William Faulkner.