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<b>Bonhams:</b> MANDELSHTAM, OSIP. 1891-1938. Autograph Manuscript, 2 pp, [Petersburg,] January 1913, entitled

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In The News: Ebay Thief Sentenced, Two Exhibitions, Abe's Top 10 - By Michael Stillman De Brunhoff's preliminary cover design (not used) for first Babar book. Courtesy of Morgan Library. By Michael Stillman A 74-year-old Great Falls, Montana, man was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison last month for a massive eBay theft-and-sale scheme he had been running from his home. James Brubaker pleaded guilty to stealing various documents from around 100 libraries across the American and Canadian West. He stole thousands, possibly tens of thousands of items from these libraries, which he then posted for sale on eBay. By the time he was caught, he had thousands of documents in files ready to be sold and shipped, along with countless items already sold to unsuspecting buyers. Brubaker's scheme collapsed when a librarian at Western Washington University noticed that pages were missing from a book Brubaker had examined. This led to a search for these items on eBay, which found similar ones being offered by one "montanasilver." A couple of purchases revealed these to be the exact copies taken from the university library. With this, some further investigation by authorities, and a search warrant, Brubaker's operation was over. He conceded to the overwhelming evidence and pleaded guilty. Guidelines called for a sentence of 30-37 months. Prosecutors requested less - two years - as a recognition of the former high school chemistry teacher's cooperation. The judge did not buy into the leniency, saying Brubaker did not deserve it. However, he did sentence Brubaker to the lower end of the guidelines' range at 2 1/2 years. Additionally, Brubaker will have to pay $23,152 in restitution. Most of this will go to Western Washington, but other institutions will get a small piece, including $5 for the Bozeman Public Library. The Morgan Library and Museum in New York is hosting an exhibition of early drafts and drawings of everyone's favorite French elephant, Babar. Everyone recognizes Babar in his stylish green suit and golden crown, but he did not always look so. He had to grow into his role. The Morgan is exhibiting working drafts and watercolors created by Jean de Brunhoff for the first Babar book, Histoire de Babar, published in 1931. De Brunhoff took the concept from some bedtime stories his wife made up for their children and created the protagonist for this long running enormously popular children's series. Jean de Brunhoff died in 1937, at the age of 37, but fortunately Babar survived his creator. Jean's son Laurent de Brunhoff took over the job of raising Babar, a role he continues to this day. Also on display are the working drafts and drawings for Laurent's first Babar book, Babar et ce coquin d'Arthur (Babar and his rascal cousin Arthur). Drawing Babar: Early Drafts and Watercolors will be continuing at the Morgan from now until January 4, 2009, and for those who think serious libraries cannot be fun, this exhibition should quickly disabuse you of your theory.
In The News: Ebay Thief Sentenced, Two Exhibitions, Abe's Top 10 - By Michael Stillman If this is not enough for the child in you, get on I-95 and ease on down the road to Philadelphia. There, the Rosenbach Museum and Library has totally updated its exhibition of the work of children's author and illustrator Maurice Sendak. Though the exhibition opened during the spring, the Rosenbach recently replaced all of the items on display. In other words, if you have already seen the exhibition, you haven't. There are all new wild things there now. Among the items newly on display are original watercolors for Where the Wild Things Are and In the Night Kitchen, a typed manuscript for the first work Sendak wrote, Kenny's Window from 1956, an early sketch he drew for Ruth Krauss' A Hole is to Dig (1952), and an original drawing for Where the Wild Things Are which was never published. The Sendak exhibition at the Rosenbach will continue until May 3, 2009, with another rotation of items on display scheduled for January. Numerous special events are planned along the way. AbeBooks has released a list of the ten most expensive books sold on their site during the month of August. While we do not know how many books Abe sells per month, it is in the hundreds of thousands, so these are certainly the cream of a large crop. Here they are: 9 (tie). Excavations at Olynthus Vols 1-11, by David Robinson, a complete set detailing artifacts from 4th and 5th century Greece. $4,500. 9 (tie). Destiny and Control in Human Systems: Studies in the Interactive Connectedness of Time, by Charles Muses. I will not even attempt to describe, nor understand, this esoteric work concerning time. $4,500. 8. Indigenous Flowers of the Hawaiian Islands, by Mrs. Francis Isabella Sinclair, containing 44 plates of watercolors by artist Sinclair. $4,661. 7. Men Without Women by Ernest Hemingway, a 1938 reprint inscribed by the author "To Lisa and Henry." Lisa Molony's mother instructed Hemingway in the Basque language. $5,000. 6. An autographed letter from New Zealand short story writer Katherine Mansfield, written four months prior to her death in 1923 from tuberculosis. $5,414. 5. The Philosophical Transactions and Collections to the End of the Year 1700 (-1744), an abridged edition edited by John Lowthorp et al. The first three volumes go up to the year 1700, while numbers 8 and 9 update through 1744. $6,500. 4. Physiologie du Gout, by Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin. This 1826 French text is not about the painful foot disease, but about good food, "gout" meaning "taste" in French. $7,021. 3. Another copy of Ernest Hemingway's Men Without Women, this time a first American edition from 1927, with the first state dust jacket and an inlaid slip of paper inscribed by Hemingway to Marian Spies. One suspects women could have done without Hemingway. $8,000. 2. Biblia Latina Cum Postillis Nicolai De Lyra et Additionibus Pauli Burgensis, by Anton Koberger. This is the third volume of a monumental 1497 bible from the Nuremberg printer. $8,500. 1. L'Abou Naddara, Journal Arabe Illustre (1878-1884), by James Sanua. This is a set of journals published by the Egyptian Sanua (aka Yaqub Sanu and "Abou Naddara" - Father Spectacles). They were published from Paris as these political and revolutionary journals were suppressed in Egypt. $13,000.

In The News: Ebay Thief Sentenced, Two Exhibitions, Abe's Top 10

- By Michael Stillman

De Brunhoff's preliminary cover design (not used) for first Babar book. Courtesy of Morgan Library.

By Michael Stillman

A 74-year-old Great Falls, Montana, man was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison last month for a massive eBay theft-and-sale scheme he had been running from his home. James Brubaker pleaded guilty to stealing various documents from around 100 libraries across the American and Canadian West. He stole thousands, possibly tens of thousands of items from these libraries, which he then posted for sale on eBay. By the time he was caught, he had thousands of documents in files ready to be sold and shipped, along with countless items already sold to unsuspecting buyers.

Brubaker's scheme collapsed when a librarian at Western Washington University noticed that pages were missing from a book Brubaker had examined. This led to a search for these items on eBay, which found similar ones being offered by one "montanasilver." A couple of purchases revealed these to be the exact copies taken from the university library. With this, some further investigation by authorities, and a search warrant, Brubaker's operation was over. He conceded to the overwhelming evidence and pleaded guilty.

Guidelines called for a sentence of 30-37 months. Prosecutors requested less - two years - as a recognition of the former high school chemistry teacher's cooperation. The judge did not buy into the leniency, saying Brubaker did not deserve it. However, he did sentence Brubaker to the lower end of the guidelines' range at 2 1/2 years. Additionally, Brubaker will have to pay $23,152 in restitution. Most of this will go to Western Washington, but other institutions will get a small piece, including $5 for the Bozeman Public Library.

The Morgan Library and Museum in New York is hosting an exhibition of early drafts and drawings of everyone's favorite French elephant, Babar. Everyone recognizes Babar in his stylish green suit and golden crown, but he did not always look so. He had to grow into his role. The Morgan is exhibiting working drafts and watercolors created by Jean de Brunhoff for the first Babar book, Histoire de Babar, published in 1931. De Brunhoff took the concept from some bedtime stories his wife made up for their children and created the protagonist for this long running enormously popular children's series.

Jean de Brunhoff died in 1937, at the age of 37, but fortunately Babar survived his creator. Jean's son Laurent de Brunhoff took over the job of raising Babar, a role he continues to this day. Also on display are the working drafts and drawings for Laurent's first Babar book, Babar et ce coquin d'Arthur (Babar and his rascal cousin Arthur). Drawing Babar: Early Drafts and Watercolors will be continuing at the Morgan from now until January 4, 2009, and for those who think serious libraries cannot be fun, this exhibition should quickly disabuse you of your theory.

In The News: Ebay Thief Sentenced, Two Exhibitions, Abe's Top 10

- By Michael Stillman

If this is not enough for the child in you, get on I-95 and ease on down the road to Philadelphia. There, the Rosenbach Museum and Library has totally updated its exhibition of the work of children's author and illustrator Maurice Sendak. Though the exhibition opened during the spring, the Rosenbach recently replaced all of the items on display. In other words, if you have already seen the exhibition, you haven't. There are all new wild things there now. Among the items newly on display are original watercolors for Where the Wild Things Are and In the Night Kitchen, a typed manuscript for the first work Sendak wrote, Kenny's Window from 1956, an early sketch he drew for Ruth Krauss' A Hole is to Dig (1952), and an original drawing for Where the Wild Things Are which was never published. The Sendak exhibition at the Rosenbach will continue until May 3, 2009, with another rotation of items on display scheduled for January. Numerous special events are planned along the way.

AbeBooks has released a list of the ten most expensive books sold on their site during the month of August. While we do not know how many books Abe sells per month, it is in the hundreds of thousands, so these are certainly the cream of a large crop. Here they are:

9 (tie). Excavations at Olynthus Vols 1-11, by David Robinson, a complete set detailing artifacts from 4th and 5th century Greece. $4,500.

9 (tie). Destiny and Control in Human Systems: Studies in the Interactive Connectedness of Time, by Charles Muses. I will not even attempt to describe, nor understand, this esoteric work concerning time. $4,500.

8. Indigenous Flowers of the Hawaiian Islands, by Mrs. Francis Isabella Sinclair, containing 44 plates of watercolors by artist Sinclair. $4,661.

7. Men Without Women by Ernest Hemingway, a 1938 reprint inscribed by the author "To Lisa and Henry." Lisa Molony's mother instructed Hemingway in the Basque language. $5,000.

6. An autographed letter from New Zealand short story writer Katherine Mansfield, written four months prior to her death in 1923 from tuberculosis. $5,414.

5. The Philosophical Transactions and Collections to the End of the Year 1700 (-1744), an abridged edition edited by John Lowthorp et al. The first three volumes go up to the year 1700, while numbers 8 and 9 update through 1744. $6,500.

4. Physiologie du Gout, by Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin. This 1826 French text is not about the painful foot disease, but about good food, "gout" meaning "taste" in French. $7,021.

3. Another copy of Ernest Hemingway's Men Without Women, this time a first American edition from 1927, with the first state dust jacket and an inlaid slip of paper inscribed by Hemingway to Marian Spies. One suspects women could have done without Hemingway. $8,000.

2. Biblia Latina Cum Postillis Nicolai De Lyra et Additionibus Pauli Burgensis, by Anton Koberger. This is the third volume of a monumental 1497 bible from the Nuremberg printer. $8,500.

1. L'Abou Naddara, Journal Arabe Illustre (1878-1884), by James Sanua. This is a set of journals published by the Egyptian Sanua (aka Yaqub Sanu and "Abou Naddara" - Father Spectacles). They were published from Paris as these political and revolutionary journals were suppressed in Egypt. $13,000.