It was in invitation no thief could ever refuse.

The organizers of the Basel Shift Festival found this out when a thief ran off with the book titled "Steal this Book."

The book with the words "Steal this Book" emblazoned across its cover had been placed in an incubator by artists from the Viennese artist's group Ubermorgen, where the thief took it unnoticed.

"The central part of the work was a book with the title 'Steal this Book' as a way of representing in art an internet hacking operation that made entire books readable on amazon.com, instead of just single pages," a spokesman for the artists said.

"It was an attempt to praise those that fought for the right for literary freedom, and not an invitation to steal the book."

The book, written by Abbie Hoffman in 1970 and published in 1971, includes advice on growing marijuana, starting a pirate radio station, living in a commune, stealing food, shoplifting, stealing credit cards, making pipe bombs, and obtaining a free buffalo from the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Reports say that many bookstores refused to carry the book, because so many patrons followed the advice of the book's title literally and stole it.

The reports added that the Festival organizers have ruled out reporting the theft to the police yet, while hoping the thief will still return the book.