A pair of Marquis de Sade manuscripts valued at $60,000 will be unveiled at a May 6 fund-raiser for UCLA's historic William Andrews Clark Memorial Library.

The 1812 plays, written by the French author of erotic works during his confinement in the French asylum that served as the setting for the Academy Award-nominated movie "Quills," were acquired recently by the renowned rare books library located in the historic West Adams District.

"The de Sade manuscripts will complement the Clark's increasingly important collection of books and manuscripts on 17th- and 18th-century marriage, sexuality and the Enlightenment," Clark Head Librarian Bruce Whiteman said.

In the last four years, the Clark Library's Afternoon of Acquisitions, which raises funds for book purchases, has become the premier social event for Los Angeles' collectors and lovers of rare books. Film historian and host of TNT's Turner Classic Movies Robert Osborne and actress Marjorie Lord will read selections from some recent acquisitions.

The de Sade manuscripts, which were copied by an anonymous hand, feature handwritten edits by the French nobleman, whose perverse sexual preferences and erotic writings gave rise to the term "sadism." The Clark purchased the copies of "Le Prevaricateur" ("The Prevaricator") and "La Tour Mistereuse" ("The Mysterious Tour") from a New York City book dealer, who had purchased them from a Paris dealer, who, in turn, had bought them from the de Sade family.

The plays were written during de Sade's second and final incar -ceration in France's Charenton Asylum, where fellow inmates acted out his works.

Also to be showcased at the event will be a 1660 mathematical treatise, three autographed letters by Oscar Wilde and the sixth known copy of collected meditations written by 18th- century English novelist Samuel Richardson.

For a tax-exempt donation of $100-$60,000, attendees can "adopt" one or more of 41 rare books acquired by the library over the last year.

For more information or reservations, which are required, call (310) 206-7660.