A red notebook belonging to the late Finnish writer Mika Waltari has been stolen from the 60th Anniversary Exhibition of The Egyptian in the premises of the Päivälehti Museum. The book contains some notes that Waltari had made for his novel in 1942. The notebook belongs to the collections of the Finnish Literature Society (SKS).

Two young men broke a locked glass cabinet at around 12.30 p.m. last Saturday. Surveillance cameras recorded the incident in the Ludviginkatu museum and in the street outside.

In terms of cultural history, the value of the notebook is very high, according to Anna Makkonen, who is in charge of the Literary Archives of the Finnish Literature Society.

The notebook contains only a few written pages, and the most valuable of them is the page with the heading "Horemheb". He was a military commander and a pharaoh.

"The information has been saved also in digital form, but as an object the notebook is unique. Typically, Waltari kept all his notes in his head, and there are hardly any written notes", says Makkonen.

The theft was detected shortly after the incident, reports Director Pekka Anttonen of the Päivälehti Archives Foundation. Even though two guides were standing close to the glass cabinet as usually, the thieves managed to find a dead moment and struck.

The security of the exhibition will be enhanced, and a significant reward is being offered for any information leading to the solving of the theft.

The Chairman of the Mika Waltari Society, Anssi Arohonka - an antiquarian himself - believes that a collector could be behind the theft. An antiquarian bookseller could ask as much as EUR 1,500 for the notebook, he assumes.

According to Anssi Arohonka, there are about ten antiquarian booksellers in Helsinki who might be interested in buying the notebook from the thieves.

Owing to his vast production, Mika Waltari is the most collected writer in Finland, says Arohonka. Even his original manuscripts or proofs occasionally become available.

A printed booklet containing one of his early plays Hankala kosinta (An Awkward Proposal) has changed hands for approximately EUR 1,000. Only the original booklet edition of Aleksis Kivi's Seven Brothers has been worth more.

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