Quick Takes: Own William Faulkner’s Nobel

New Yorkers got a preview Wednesday of an auction rarity: a Nobel Prize for literature.

The 1950 medal belonged to William Faulkner, one of America’s best-known and respected novelists. It comes with a hand-edited draft of Faulkner’s acceptance speech; together, auction house Sotheby’s expects those items to sell for between $500,000 and $1 million.

The medal is part of a long list of Faulkner items that will be going up for auction June 11. There are 26 letters and postcards, two dozen leather-bound copies of his work and the original, hand-bound poetry book he wrote for his wife, Estelle.

Some of the items had been in university museums but had always been on loan from Faulkner’s family. Why the family decided to sell them now has not been revealed.

—Carolyn Kellogg

MTV cancels’Buckwild’

A week after the death of “Buckwild” reality-TV star Shain Gandee, MTV has decided to cancel the series.

Production on the show’s second season was suspended after news broke last week that the 21-year-old had been found dead in his truck, along with his uncle and a friend, after going “mudding” (off-roading), near Sissonville, W.Va.

“We love the cast and the show, and this was not an easy decision, but given Shain’s tragic passing and essential presence on the show, we felt it was not appropriate to continue without him,” the network said in a statement released Wednesday.

Second-season “Buckwild” episodes that had already been shot will not be shown, but MTV plans to run a special, “Buckwild: WV to the NYC,” on Sunday. It was shot before production had begun on the sophomore season and will follow a marathon showing of the first season’s episodes.

—Yvonne Villarreal

A ‘Masterpiece’ full of extras?

A longtime producer at PBS is ready to pull back the curtains on “Downton Abbey” and other “Masterpiece” favorites.

Rebecca Eaton, executive producer of the “Masterpiece” series for more than a quarter-century, has a deal with Viking for “Making Masterpiece: 25 Years Behind the Scenes of Masterpiece Theatre and Mystery!”

The publisher announced Wednesday that the book would come out Oct. 29. Patricia Mulcahy will co-write “Making Masterpiece.”

—Associated Press

Timberlake top of the pops again

Justin Timberlake is showing no signs of slowing down.

His “The 20/20 Experience” has notched a third consecutive week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, moving an additional 139,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

“The 20/20 Experience,” Timberlake’s first album in nearly seven years, is the first to clutch the pole position for three weeks since Taylor Swift’s smash “Red” late last year. Timberlake is also the first male to open and rule the charts this long since Eminem’s 2010 disc, “Recovery.”

The Band Perry opened at No. 2 with “Pioneer.” The sophomore effort moved 129,000 copies and logged the sibling trio its first No. 1 on the country chart.

Odd Future’s outspoken founder, Tyler, the Creator, also enjoyed a hefty debut. Despite not having any videos in rotation or radio singles, his sophomore effort, “Wolf,” landed at No. 3 on Wednesday, having sold 89,000 copies.

—Gerrick D. Kennedy

British theater chief moving on

The widely praised chief of Britain’s National Theatre says he will leave his post in two years.

Nicholas Hytner plans to step down from one of the biggest jobs in the theater world in March 2015.

Britain’s flagship state-funded theater company has had a run of successes since Hytner took charge in 2003, transferring hits including “War Horse” and “One Man, Two Guvnors” to Broadway and reaching millions with live broadcasts to cinemas around the world.

The theater also announced Wednesday that Nick Starr, its executive director since 2002, would be stepping down next year.

—Associated Press

Ex-Obama aide to write memoir

David Axelrod, former senior advisor to President Obama, is joining the list of onetime Obama administration officials who will be penning memoirs next year, Penguin Press has announced.

Other administration officials with books on the way include former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and former Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.

Axelrod’s book is scheduled for a fall 2014 release.

—Jenny Hendrix

Finally

Hall of Fame: Singers Kenny Rogers and Bobby Bare and Sun Records producer-engineer Jack Clement are the newest members of the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Late night: NBC has renewed its late-night series “Last Call With Carson Daly” for a 13th season.