Peter di Bonaventura was 'surprised' and 'grateful' the missing books were recovered

A stack of rare books worth millions of dollars was finally returned to the heirs of New York City royalty Monday — decades after they were snatched by a mysterious bookworm, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said. The 17 historic works — valued at nearly $3 million — once belonged to socialites John Hay Whitney and his second wife, philanthropist Betsey Cushing Whitney, before they were reported missing from Whitney’s estate on Long Island in 1989.