James William Buffett (December 25, 1946–September 1, 2023) was an American singer-songwriter,^] musician, author, and businessman.  He was best known for his music, which often portrays an "island escapism" lifestyle.  Together with his Coral Reefer Band, Buffett recorded hit songs including "Margaritaville" (ranked 234th on the Recording Industry Association of America's list of "Songs of the Century") and "Come Monday".  He has a devoted base of fans known as "Parrotheads".  Aside from his career in music, Buffett was also a bestselling author and was involved in two restaurant chains named after two of his best-known songs; he owned the Margaritaville Cafe restaurant chain and co-developed the now defunct Cheeseburger in Paradise restaurant chain.  Buffett was one of the world's richest musicians, with a net worth of $1 billion as of 2023.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Buffett 

Jimmy Buffett, musical ‘mayor of Margaritaville,’ dies at 76  The singer-songwriter sold 20 million records from his greatest hit, “Margaritaville,” created a lifestyle brand of tropical breezes, frozen cocktails and laid-back escapism.  Washington Post  September 2, 2023    

Pooh and Piglet Original Drawing Discovered in Cellar Drawer  See an original drawing of the final book illustration of Pooh and Piglet in the Hundred Acre Wood from A.A. Milne's first book about Pooh, Winnie-the-Pooh (1926).  The original initialled pen and ink drawing from 1925 that was reproduced in the first edition of the book was sold by Bonham’s, New York, for $220,000 (13 December 2022).  That one is arguably the most important Winnie-the-pooh drawing in existence.  This later and virtually identical signed pen and ink drawing of the same scene is dated 1958 and in 2023, was discovered in the collection of the late Christopher Foyle of Beeleigh Abbey, near Maldon in Essex.  Christopher was the grandson of William Foyle, co-founder of the famous London bookshop with his brother Gilbert.  William was a great bibliophile and amassed a huge library, famously sold by Christie’s in 2001 for £12.6 million, after the death of his daughter Christina.  Christopher was Christina’s nephew and he was able to buy a lot of the books before they went to auction, as well as adding to the collection in the same beautiful library room at Beeleigh Abbey over the next 20 years.  Far from being proudly displayed on a library wall, this drawing was stumbled across by Christopher’s widow Cathy, hiding in a cheap frame, wrapped in a tea towel at the back of a cellar drawer, where it seems to have languished for decades.  The drawing is not dedicated to anyone but seems likely to have been done for a specific person or event.  Perhaps it was drawn in connection with one of Christina Foyle’s famous Literary Lunches which hundreds of authors and celebrities attended over many decades.  Shepard would draw in pencil before going over the drawing in india ink and then rubbing out the pencil.  There are traces of pencil still visible in this drawing showing that it was done with the same love and care as any of his original Pooh drawings.  The drawing, estimated at £20,000-30,000, will be included with 400 other lots of magnificent books, manuscripts, documents and pictures from the Foyle Library, the earliest dating back to the 13th century.  The taped frame and tea towel the picture was found in will be available to the successful bidder.  Online catalogues for Part I will be on the website from Friday 8 September, 2023 and in print from 11 September.  Printed catalogues for both parts can be had for:  £30 (UK), £40 (Europe), £60 (Rest of World).  https://www.dominicwinter.co.uk/news-item/pooh-and-piglet-original-drawing-discovered-in-cellar-drawer/?pc=69   

Established in 1936, The Mint Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina is a museum of international art and design.  With two locations—Mint Museum Randolph in the heart of Eastover, and Mint Museum Uptown at Levine Center for the Arts—the Mint boasts one of the largest collections in the Southeast and is committed to engaging and inspiring members of the global community.  Find more information including exhibitions showings and planning your visit at https://www.mintmuseum.org/about/#timeline   

In an effort to help prevent the spread of misinformation, Google in late August 2023 unveiled an invisible, permanent watermark on images that will identify them as computer-generated.  The technology, called SynthID, embeds the watermark directly into images created by Imagen, one of Google’s latest text-to-image generators.  The AI-generated label remains regardless of modifications like added filters or altered colors.  The SynthID tool can also scan incoming images and identify the likelihood they were made by Imagen by scanning for the watermark with three levels of certainty:  detected, not detected, and possibly detected.  Jennifer Korn  https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/30/tech/google-ai-images-watermark/index.html   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com   Issue 2715  September 6, 2023