Updike selling library

MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA, Mass., Dec. 17 (UPI) -- John Updike is selling his library and the Massachusetts book dealer who collected the tomes found Updike's notes in the margins, increasing their value.

Updike, an honored writer who has won two Pulitzer Prizes for entries in his "Rabbit" series, said: "I'm at an age (72)when you think about lightening your load, rather than dumping it on your heirs," he told the Boston Globe.

So Updike said he was getting rid of the books that filled his barn and cellar where "they were just collecting dust and mouse droppings."

Manchester used book seller Mark Stolle was the only dealer who agreed to pay for the books and haul them away -- but he got some unexpected prizes. Many of the books were marked with Updike's "scribblings" which give an insight into the writer's thinking process, the Globe said.

Many of the books will go for the usual used-book rate of a $1 or so; those with Updike's notations, however, will fetch between $200 and $1,000.

Updike told the Globe: "If (Stolle is) able to make a few dollars on a few of the review copies scattered in there, all the better. He paid a fair price."