In case you missed Les Klinger. . .

You can check out Les Klinger's interview on MPR's "Midmorning with Kerri Miller." Les's talk with Kerri will give you a sense of what he shared with us last night. It was great to have Les back in town. He's a dear friend of the Holmes Collections and it was really fun to see and hear him talk about "playing the game" with the Dracula story. As with his Annotated Sherlock Holmes, we've become the archive for all his papers related to the Annotated Dracula. We look forward to seeing him again, in New York, in January during the Baker Street Irregulars "Birthday Weekend." Les's book tour continues on to Chicago (at the Newberry tonight), Washington DC, New York, ending in Boston on Halloween. For more information about Les and other appearances he'll be making, check out his web site (and the link to the Dracula site).

We had a full house for Les's talk and book signing. It was also the occasion of the annual meeting of the Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Collections, where we were very, very pleased to announce the receipt of a gift of $1.381 million from an anonymous donor in support of the endowed curatorship for the Holmes Collections, the E. W. McDiarmid curator. We have pledges for another $80,000 and hope to raise the balance of the funds, to make our goal of $1.5 million, by the end of the year. Stay tuned for more information about the endowed position.

Leslie Klinger and The New Annotated Dracula

October 22, 2008

Appearance by Leslie S. Klinger, author of The New Annotated Dracula

Who: Leslie S. Klinger, author of The New Annotated Dracula
What: Author appearance and book signing
Where: Elmer L. Andersen Library
When: Monday, October 27, 2008 • 7 p.m.
Free and open to the public.

World-renowned Sherlockian Leslie S. Klinger’s annotated volumes of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s short stories and novels met with delight and enthusiasm from critics and readers alike upon publication. Now, Les Klinger focuses his critical eye and keen wit on Bram Stoker’s classic novel in The New Annotated Dracula, published by W. W. Norton and to be available for sale and signing by the author.

Dracula has gripped readers since its first publication in 1897. While the book has been studied by scholars in virtually every academic discipline, none have accepted Bram Stoker’s declaration that the work was based on historical fact. For the first time, Klinger examines all of the evidence, both internal and external, including contemporary travel books, scientific texts, Victorian encyclopedias, as well as Stoker’s notes for the narrative and the original manuscript itself (privately owned by Paul Allen, Klinger is one of only two researchers to have seen it in recent years).

Attendees in costume will be entered for a chance to win a free signed copy of The New Annotated Dracula.

Waiting To Be Drawn

I've had a lot of fun with this exhibit. There's a little booklet to go along with the exhibit; just click here if you'd like to take a peak.

We had a little preview of the exhibit through our "First Fridays in Andersen Library" program in October. Jerry Fearing joined us to talk about a few cartoons selected from the thousands that make up his collection.

We're in the beginning stages of processing the collection and hope to have it available for use sometime in 2009.

New Exhibit

Waiting to Be Drawn

What: Exhibit: Waiting to Be Drawn: Political and Editorial Cartoons Focusing on Presidential Election Years
Where: T. R. Anderson Gallery, Wilson Library
When: Through Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Free and open to the public.

This exhibit marks this year’s Presidential campaign and election through a selection from the thousands of editorial cartoons from the collection of Jerry Fearing, long-time editorial cartoonist for the St. Paul Dispatch and Pioneer Press. This group of material is one of the newest additions to the remarkable collections of the Archives and Special Collections department of the University of Minnesota Libraries.