In a stunning announcement this weekend, Derick Dreher, director of the Rosenbach of the Free Library in Philadelphia, stated that the institution's Maurice Sendak collection, which had been "on loan" for decades, will be transferred to Connecticut, where Sendak estate trustees are planning to build a museum dedicated to the artist.

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Sendak never formally gifted the thousands of original drawings and manuscripts he deposited at the Rosenbach beginning in the 1960s. The artist died in 2012, and his will indicates that the collection belongs to his eponymous foundation, the trustees of which are tasked with founding a Sendak museum near his former home in Ridgefield, Connecticut. The collection formerly on deposit at the Rosenbach will populate the new museum's vault.

Kimerly Rorschach, who was a curator at the Rosenbach in the 1980s and is now director of the Seattle Art Museum, told the Philadelphia Inquirer: "It's a huge loss. I am sorry about it for Philadelphia and the Rosenbach. I can see the charm of having it at his house. I've visited, and it's an enchanting place. But it won't be so easily accessible."

On the bright side, writes Dreher, "The Rosenbach does own certain work made by Sendak, and this will remain a valued part of the collection. In addition, the so-called 'Chertoff Mural,' Sendak's only work in that medium, will continue to be owned by the Rosenbach and displayed with its interpretive materials for public enjoyment."

Plus, Sendak did leave his collection of rare books and manuscripts to the Rosenbach, including an extensive Melville collection. 

Guest Post: A Second Book of Booksellers, by Jerry Morris

I don't claim to be a connoisseur of books about books. But I am a collector of them, having over 1000 books about books in my library. And I enjoy reading and writing about them in my blogs. I also love recommending the very good ones. And Sheila Markham's book, A Second Book of Booksellers: Conversations with the Antiquarian Book Trade, is second to none.

If the title sounds familiar, it's because A Second Book of Booksellers is a sequel  to Sheila Markham's first book, A Book of Booksellers: Conversations with the Antiquarian Book Trade,  first published in 2004 and reprinted in 2007.

The first book contains interviews of 50 booksellers conducted between 1991 and 2003. These interviews first appeared in the Bookdealer. Barry Shaw, the editor of the Bookdealer, wrote the foreword to the first book. The second book contains interviews of 31 booksellers conducted between 2007 and 2013. The last ten interviews appeared in the Book Collector. And Nicolas Barker, the editor of the Book Collector, wrote the introduction to the second book.

Most of the booksellers interviewed in the two books are English, with two Americans and at least one Canadian also interviewed. One of the English booksellers interviewed in the first book started his career with a book stall in the Portobello Road Market and ended up on Bond Street. Another bookseller found Winston Churchill's manuscript notes for his World War II books on Portobello Road, yet kept his own military books in the basement of his bookstore with the rats. One bookseller in the second book spent twenty years amassing the greatest Charles Darwin collection ever. Another bookseller was blind, but that did not prevent him from buying and selling books -- I love the title of that interview: "A Feeling for Books." What I found most fascinating about all the interviews is that I learned first-hand, from the horse's mouth, so to speak, what effect the internet has had on the book trade in the last twenty years. I like the viewpoint of one bookseller who said, "I cannot imagine a time when one of my clients will start to tremble and perspire holding in his hands a first electronic version of Don Quijote de la Mancha. Rare and beautiful books will disappear only if beauty itself disappears from our existence."

Now I enjoyed reading both books. And I recommend you buy both of them. But don't just take my word for it. Go to her website, Sheila-Markham.com, and click on "Interview Archives." While there, you can read over forty interviews online that were not printed in her two books. By then, you will want to read more. But I would not wait too long.

A Second Book of Booksellers is available from either Amazon.co.uk or from Sheila Markham's website. And Sheila says PayPal is fine!

-Jerry Morris is a book collector who blogs at Contemplations of Moibibliomaniac.

The story of the ???? ??? ????????? (Battle of Marathon) has long drawn writers and poets. The ancient epic pits the outnumbered Athenians against the mighty Persians, and since the actual event took place over 2500 years ago, many writers have played with the facts to suit their various needs. The outcome is always riveting, no matter if the date of battle is set on August 12th, 490 BC, or September 12th. Some historians estimate the Persian force numbered 25,000 men; others put it at 60,000, not including cavalry and ships. Either way, they greatly outnumbered the 10,000 Athenians waiting their arrival.

Not in dispute is that one of Western civilization's most storied military events took place in a field roughly twenty-six miles from Athens, near the town of Marathon, in what would be the first of many attempts by the Persians to subjugate the Greeks. The Athenians, desperate for reinforcements, sent word to their ferocious Spartan neighbors 140 miles away. The only way was by foot, and so professional military messenger Pheidippides  covered the rough, mountainous terrain in two days, and by foot. The Spartans were in the midst of a religious festival and wouldn't commit troops at that time, so Pheidippides ran back to Athens (again, in two days) with the sober news.

Undaunted, the Athenians (aided by tiny neighbori

Bust of Plutarch of Chaeronea, a Greek philosopher and author (46-c.122). The statue is located at the Archaeological Museum of Delphi. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

ng city-state Plataia) planned a fierce, early morning attack, surprising the Persians and engaging in hand-to-hand combat, successfully (if momentarily) driving the invaders off shore. There would be more running, this time by the entire Athenian army, back to their undefended city to meet the Persians, now under sail and headed that way. Pheidippides ran to Athens with his fellow soldiers, where, at the foot of the Acropolis, he famously announced victory,(???????!) then promptly expired.

Still, over 400 years would pass until the historian Plutarch wrote about the battle in his collection of essays called Moralia.  His "In what were the Athenians famous?" (???? ?? ???????? ?????????;), cites a lost work of fellow Hellenic writer Herodotus, who had written an account of the battle thirty to forty years after it happened. Herodotus did not bind himself to the truth - he likely exaggerated the Persian death toll, for starters - but his is the only surviving account from that era, and the one from which Plutarch wrote his own essay.  

In the 1800s Victorian poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning composed a poem dedicated to that ancient battle.  Notable among young lovers for penning "How do I love thee? Let me Count the Ways...," Browning also wrote, at the tender age of fourteen, no less, a four-book epic narrative poem recounting the battle at Marathon. Handwritten on medium-weight paper with iron-gall ink, the 1819 manuscript, eventually ended up at the Harry Ransom Library at the University of Texas, where it underwent repair in April 2013. Adding to the already difficult challenge of conserving century-old paper, Browning would revise portions of her manuscript by sewing pieces of paper onto the existing larger document. Archivists managed to save the work by removing the original threads during restoration. Then, the document was restitched together by using a combination of archival thread alongside the original. Like those who compete in the race named in honor of the ancient battle, the story of Marathon trudges on, undaunted, persevering against the odds. 

On Tuesday, September 16, Freeman's of Philadelphia will feature photographs and photobooks. One of our favorite lots here at Fine Books & Collections:

This year marks the 75th anniversary of The Wizard of Oz film, which means the time is right for buyers and sellers who focus on related memorabilia, such as autographs, scripts, storyboards and concept art, and costumes. Profiles in History is offering these three very special Wizard pieces at a 4-day auction event in Los Angeles, October 17-20.

An original, 113-page, studio-bound script dated October 10, 1938. According to the catalogue, this version of the script "includes important revisions by writer Edgar Allan Woolf, the visionary who changed the famous slippers from silver to ruby, inserted the dream sequence, and is responsible for the fantasy aspects of the film--all elements not in the L. Frank Baum novel." It is estimated to sell for $12,000-15,000.

An original matte painting from the film depicts the woods at the foot of the Wicked Witch's castle. Executed in colored pencil, gouache, and chalk on black artist board, the image is "attributable to the scene when our heroic quartet ambushes the 'Winkie Guards' to steal their uniforms and gain access to the castle." The estimate is $8,000-12,000.

A complete press book with original herald, published by MGM in 1939. The cover features bold window card art, and the book is illustrated with production details, plot synopsis, cast list, sheet music, etc. and includes a record of all the movie tie-in advertisements. Its estimate is $5,000-7,000.

Make your plans now for the first-ever Brooklyn Antiques & Book Fair, kicking off with a special preview opening on Friday evening from 7:30-9:30. FB&C readers get a free pass, courtesy of Marvin Getman of Impact Events Group Inc., by clicking here.
 
Held at the Brooklyn Expo Center at 79 Franklin St., the fair continues on Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. More than one hundred dealers will be hand to showcase their very best antiques, with a focus on on fine & decorative art, folk art, Americana, antiquarian books, ephemera, manuscripts, prints, autographs, and the like. So many dealers we know and love will be there, including some of our recent "Bright Young Things," Honey & Wax Booksellers, Tomberg Rare Books, Lizz Young, and Little Sages, and FB&C supporters Old Editions, Jeff Bergman Books, and Enchanted Books.

Mac Barnett enjoys talking to children. He enjoys it so much he's made a successful career out of writing everything from picture books to novels just for the junior set. At 32, Barnett has already racked up accolades for his work too, winning the Caldecott Honor, the Boston Globe-Horn Book award, and the E.B. White Read-aloud award for his 2012 picture book, Extra Yarn, which was illustrated by fellow award recipient (and longtime friend) Jon Klassen. 

(Photo Credit: Jeffrey Beall/Wikimedia Commons)

Earlier this summer the author spoke with me from a farm in California where he was working the land and awaiting the arrival of the first hardbound copies of Barnett and Klassen's forthcoming collaboration, Sam and Dave Dig a Hole (Candlewick Press; available October 14th, $16.99). We discussed the importance of creating good children's literature and what Barnett calls the literary bargain children happily make when choosing a book.

Text for picture books are all about setting up the accompanying image, and for Barnett to realize that goal, he and Jon Klassen collaborated extensively on Extra Yarn as well as Sam and Dave, which is often unheard of in today's publishing environment. "The picture books I love so much from the 1950s and '60s were often constructed with authors and illustrators constantly pitching ideas back and forth, with the story and images changing throughout the process," said Barnett. Think of Ruth Krauss and Maurice Sendak, toiling away in the same apartment, then visiting the editor together to defend their product. Such close contact often produces powerful books that stand the test of time. 

Whether writing picture books or middle-grade mystery novels, Barnett seems moves seamlessly from either sphere, even with each genre demanding distinct requirements from the author. As an undergraduate at Pomona College, Barnett studied writing with Infinite Jest author David Foster Wallace. "I told Wallace that I wanted to write for kids, and he said, 'I have no idea how to write for kids.' That's wasn't what I was there to learn," Barnett recalled. "I knew how to talk to kids. I wanted to learn writing, because I think they deserve the best art and the best sentences that we can make for them." After graduating, Barnett set himself a deadline of writing a book within the year, and if it didn't happen, he would return to school and pursue his other passion, medieval Scandinavian literature.  

Children are fortunate that Barnett found success because he believes so passionately in the importance of solid literary choices for young readers, and his work delivers. "Children are the best audience for serious literary fiction, there are a lot of things adults find too strange." Barnett uses the Margaret Wise Brown's Goodnight Moon, as an example. "It is a weird book. And it has this status as a classic, and most reassuring of all picture books. And I think that it is, but it is also incredibly dark. Strange things happen - clothes disappear from on and off the drying rack. It's a very strange book, with strange rhythms, but it is so deep and incantatory and taps into a very real childhood fear of going to sleep, which is also linked to a fear of death. And that's why I think it is so comforting." Still, a book this unusual is one of the best selling picture books of all time. Barnett feels children will read experimental literature because "the experience of childhood is experimental. Children are constantly having to learn new rules for new situations."

Last month, the Library of Congress announced that it had acquired the American Ballet Theatre (ABT) archives--more than 50,000 items of visual and written documentation--and would mount an exhibit to celebrate not only the major donation but the ABT's forthcoming 75th anniversary in 2015. The exhibit, American Ballet Theatre: Touring the Globe for 75 Years, showcases a selection of 43 artifacts, photographs, scores, and costumes, and is currently on view in the Library's James Madison Memorial Building in Washington, D.C. Here are some of the stunning images on display.





In a press release, Susan Vita, chief of the Library's Music Division, said, "The ABT archives is unique in that it connects with so many of our major collections of composers, choreographers, set and lighting designers, and orchestrators. It is a thrill to have America's Ballet Company's archives as a centerpiece collection in America's Library."

The exhibition will close in D.C. on Jan. 24, 2015 but will then travel to Los Angeles, opening at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in its Library of Congress Ira Gershwin Gallery in March 2015 and running through August 2015.