The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression today jumped on the Internet bandwagon by launching its own auction on the World Wide Web. The first ABFFE online auction features items for both booksellers and the public.

ABFFE Announces Plans for BookExpo, April 30-May 2 ABFFE Debuts T-Shirt Based on the Movie Pleasantville Special ABFFE Pin to Be Distributed to ABFFE Members Previous ABFFE Updates

For booksellers, there are bargains on fiction, non-fiction, children's and art books from leading publishers, including Simon & Schuster, Crown, Columbia and Harvard University Presses and the Perseus Book Group. Regional bookseller associations have donated package deals for their fall trade shows.

For the public, there are tickets to baseball games at Yankees Stadium, Camden Yards and Coors Field, a VIP tour of Warner Brothers Studio, tickets to Universal Studios (Hollywood or Florida) and a night at the Le Meridien Hotel in Boston.

There is also a wide selection of autographed books, including a collection of John Irving's work, signed galleys of Salman Rushdie's new book, "The Ground Beneath Her Feet," and a limited edition of Jim Harrison's "The Road Back."

To sign onto the ABFFE online auction, bidders should go to the foundation's new web site, www.abffe.com.

Booksellers attending BookExpo America in Los Angeles will have a number of opportunities to learn more about important free speech issues and to support ABFFE.

On Saturday, May 1, ABFFE is sponsoring a special panel, "Protecting Customer Privacy in Bookstores." Bookstores rarely receive subpoenas, but privacy problems occur almost every day and can cause real trouble if they are not handled properly.

The authors of the ABFFE privacy pamphlet will discuss the most common situations in which these problems occur and will offer practical advice for avoiding problems when possible and addressing problems, including subpoenas, that can't be avoided. The panel is at 11 a.m. in Room 306A in the south wing.

Booksellers and other show attendees can help support ABFFE by bidding in the silent auction that the foundation holds every year at BookExpo. The auction will feature over 100 items that are not available in ABFFE's new online auction.

ABFFE's retail store at BEA will be open from Thursday, April 29, through Sunday, May 2. It will feature a full line of event souvenirs, including the official poster and T-shirts, adapted from James Whistler's Portrait of the Artist's Mother. Banned Books Week material and other First Amendment items will also be sold there.

One of the items of special interest at the ABFFE store will be a T-shirt that it has created by incorporating art from the movie "Pleasantville," which deals extensively with censorship and even features a book burning. The shirt features parts of the mural created for the film by Los Angeles artist Frank Romero.

Special ABFFE Pin to Be Distributed to Members

ABFFE has created a lapel pin to thank its members for their support. ABFFE members attending BookExpo are encouraged to drop by the ABFFE booth near the silent auction to meet Chris Finan, ABFFE president, and pick up their pin. (ABFFE will also be distributing a new "I Read Banned Books Week" button free to anyone who wants one.) The membership pin will be mailed to members who don't attend BookExpo following the show.

Previously in ABFFE Update