Southeast Missouri State University police are investigating the theft of at least three letters from the school's highly touted collection of William Faulkner manuscripts after a Faulkner collector discovered the documents were being sold on the Internet.

One of the letters has been found in Portland, Maine, but no arrests have been made.

"We are just waiting to see how they want to get it back," said Portland police detective Sgt. Mike Jones.

Alarmed school officials said they don't know yet how many letters were stolen from the school's rare book room in Kent Library or when they were taken.

"We were all taken by surprise," said university provost Jane Stephens, who said the letters could have been missing for months. "We are going to make sure we update the inventory and know what is missing."

The room has an alarm, but university officials are looking at improving security. "We may even start taking pictures of people who have access to the collection," she said.

Stephens said the rare book room is used by scholars but routinely is locked when not in use.

But Robert Hamblin, who directs the Center for Faulkner Studies at Southeast, said the rare book room is visited by students as well as scholars.

"We take visitors in there all the time," he said. "I had a group of students in there last week showing them materials," he said.

University officials only learned of the theft a few days ago.

The manuscripts are part of the Brodsky collection, which the university acquired in 1989 from St. Louis collector Louis Daniel Brodsky. The collection is one of the four largest of Faulkner materials in the world.

Southeast's collection includes more than 2,000 pages of manuscript materials, more than 3,000 letters, nearly 2,000 photographs of the legendary American author and over 1,000 written materials involving Faulkner's work in Hollywood. The collection includes books, screenplays and Faulkner drawings.

One of the letters was recovered by Portland police from Portland collector Seth Berner, who bought it for $1,200 on Oct. 25 from a Rowlett, Texas, dealer who sells collectible manuscripts. Berner found it on eBay, an Internet auction site.

Berner said he didn't know the letter had been stolen until he was contacted by a university police officer on Monday. Berner said he turned the letter over to a Portland police detective on Wednesday after the officer threatened to get a warrant to seize it if he didn't comply.

Agrees to refund

Berner said the Texas dealer, Noble Enterprises, has agreed to refund his money.

"This is the first time in my years of collecting that I have ever ended up with anything that was stolen," said Berner, who has collected Faulkner materials for two decades.

"I want to build a collection, but I only want to build it honestly," Berner said. He keeps his valuable collection in bank safe deposit boxes.

Berner said the 1943 letter from Faulkner to film producer Lamar Trotti, praising the producer's film "The Ox-Bow Incident," was the only one he noticed for sale last month on eBay.

But Portland police said collector Tom Fisk spotted three letters from the Brodsky collection being sold on eBay by Noble Enterprises.

Fisk, who has a New Haven, Conn., telephone number, didn't return several telephone messages left on Thursday.

University officials, including president Ken Dobbins and public safety director Doug Richards, refused to comment on the ongoing investigation.

But information provided to Portland police indicated that recent visitors to the rare book room included a scholar from Japan and a traveling salesman who signed in as "R. Smith" when he viewed the collection Sept. 27.

The Texas dealer reported he obtained the letters from a grocery clerk who said he inherited them from his grandmother's estate, Portland police said.

Morley Swingle, Cape Girardeau County prosecuting attorney, has been informed of the campus police investigation. "They have several promising leads," said Swingle who wouldn't discuss the details.

"My guess is it very likely will be solved within the next week," Swingle said.

Swingle said he would vigorously prosecute the thief if an arrest is made. "I have read at least a dozen William Faulkner books. I am the perfect prosecutor for this case," he said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123

FAULKNER COLLECTION TIMELINE

September 1988: Southeast Missouri State University announces that Louis Daniel Brodsky of St. Louis had donated to the school his collection of rare books and manuscripts by William Faulkner. School officials said the collection was valued at over $3 million.

October 1988: Brodky receives the 1988 "Friend of the University" Award at Southeast.

October 1989:Southeast's new Center for Faulkner Studies exhibits Faulkner materials under the leadership of Robert Hamblin, a Southeast English professor and longtime Faulkner scholar.

October 1990: It's disclosed that the university would pay $1.8 million to Brodsky over 20 years for the purchase of the Faulkner materials and for his services as curator of the collection under a 1988 agreement. Terms of the agreement were disclosed in a 1990 audit. The disclosure surprised many faculty members.

April 1994: Southeast touts its Faulkner collection in hosting the Southern Literary Festival.

October 2000: Japanese scholar Kiyoko Toyama visits Southeast to study the Faulkner collection.

August 2001: Japanese scholar Toshio Kayama visits Southeast to study the Faulkner collection.

October 2002: Japanese scholar Hisao Tanaka visits Southeast to study the Faulkner materials and discuss Faulkner's 1955 visit to Japan.