Notorious ‘Tome Raider’ Melvin West jailed for stealing antique map from museum atlas

A serial art thief who was caught on CCTV cutting a rare 350 year old map from an atlas at Greenwich’s National Maritime Museum has been jailed for three years. Melvin West, 73, used a Stanley knife to remove the historic illustration from the 1684 book by Dutch cartographer Frederick de Wit. West visited the library on 26 February last year and requested the historic atlas before quickly removing the map, known as the Nova Orbis Tabula. CCTV footage captured…