Thanks, Mark, for the link and I'll go get my copy to start reading too.

It's a good book. You'll enjoy reading about Cellini and "life on the street."

Mark.

Mandrake, that probably (although I'm not sure) was Mundaka who had a staff that he played as a flute. I am going to post something longer about him one of these days. M1

I've been a long time admirer of Jim Cellini and was excited to hear about this book. I had held off on getting a copy, mostly because of the price, and did a search the other day and found a local supply. The cost is reasonable (at least compared to ordering it internationally) and he's including a copy of Jim's lecture notes. I received my copy about a week after ordering. Here's the link:

http://www.magicfunwithpeople.com/html/magic_items.html

-Brian

You could be right. This was decades ago and I can't promise what I remember is what actually happened. Seemed it was a really tall guy with red hair dressed in medevil garb with a large staff.

This was probably only my second trip to Tannen's and I was blown away by what was going on. That was when they were still on Times Square. The last time I was there was when they were in the 20's. Haven't been there since their latest move.

THANK YOU Brian!!!

You made my May brother. I've been wanting to read this for ever...but didn't know where to find a copy. Just placed my order.

You're welcome.

-Brian

Just got it in the mail today. Shawn threw in a copy of Cellini's lecture notes (full of pro-illustrations & his own lines for all occassions)

Holy Magic Rabbits...whata deal!

Thanks for being all pro Shawn!

ekins...I owe you a big hug man

Initially Arsène Lupin is the heroe of Novels by Maurice Leblanc (early XXth century). This heroe is a very gifted thief working thanks to his art at disguising and extreme intelligence. He is apt at all sorts of matial arts, and is a sort of very bright Robin Hood who find his pride at defending the poor people and the women that he generally seduces for love more than sex. The suspense of these novel is famous and during one novel he has to compete against Herlock Sholmes (no mistyping here) who he eventually succeeds defeating but the British kills by accident the only woman Lupin ever loved. The books are extremely well known in France, and yes some are translated in English. (In French, even though it is not widely known the "Lupinus" species are blue, yellow or white flowers of the Mediterranean region)

Here is what Wikipedia says about Arsene Lupin:
A contemporary of Arthur Conan Doyle, Maurice Leblanc (1864-1941) was the creator of the character of gentleman thief Arsène Lupin who, in Francophone countries, has enjoyed a popularity as long-lasting and considerable as Sherlock Holmes in the English-speaking world.

There are twenty volumes in the Arsène Lupin series written by Leblanc himself, plus five authorized sequels written by the notorious mystery writing team of Boileau-Narcejac, as well as various pastiches.

The character of Lupin was first introduced in a series of short stories serialized in the magazine Je Sais Tout, starting in No. 6, dated 15 July 1905.

Arsène Lupin is a literary descendant of Pierre Alexis Ponson du Terrail's Rocambole. Like him, he is clearly a force for good, while operating on the wrong side of the law. Those whom Lupin defeats, always with his characteristic gallic style and panache, are worse villains than he. Lupin is somewhat similar to A.J. Raffles and anticipates characters such as The Saint.

The character of Arsène Lupin might have been based by Leblanc on French anarchist Marius Jacob, whose trial made headlines in March 1905, but Leblanc had also read Octave Mirbeau's Les 21 jours d'un neurasthénique (1901), which features a gentleman thief named Arthur Lebeau, and seen Mirbeau's comedy Scrupules (1902), whose main character is a gentleman thief