The Tome Raider brought to book

William Jacques, who earned the nickname Tome Raider after stealing 1m of rare books in the late 1990s, drew up a "thief's shopping list" as he continued his life of crime.

He used a false name to sign in to the Royal Horticultural Society's Lindley library in London before stuffing valuable books under his tweed jacket and fleeing, Southwark Crown Court in central London was told.

Gino Connor, for the prosecution, said the crime was a "systematic, carefully planned theft committed by a man who knew precisely what he was doing".

The rare volumes of Nouvelle Iconographies des Camellias by Ambroise Verschaffelt were taken some time between June 2004 – when an audit of the books was last undertaken – and March 2007.

The son of a farmer from Selby, in North Yorkshire, Jacques, 41, of no fixed address, was previously jailed for four years in May 2002 after plundering more than 1m of historic books from the UK's leading libraries, including two copies of Sir Isaac Newton's Principia Mathematica.

In the latest case, staff became suspicious after noticing he would always wear the same clothes – a tweed jacket and glasses – on visits.

Mr Connor said on one occasion he "was seen to place something inside his jacket and walk away with his left arm stiff against his jacket".

After his arrest police found a piece of paper with the names of 70 volumes of rare books, all kept at the library, listed in order as to where they could be found.

Jacques was found guilty by a majority of 11-1 of one count of theft relating to the 13 volumes missing from the library.

The judge adjourned sentencing to July 20, saying he wanted to give Jacques time to consider revealing the location of the stolen books.