UPDATE 2-Playboy in talks with Iconix to sell itself-sources

* Talks are preliminary, deal may not be reached-sources

* Iconix plans to bring in publishing partner (Adds detail in 2nd paragraph)

By Jui Chakravorty and Robert MacMillan

NEW YORK, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Playboy Enterprises Inc (PLA.N) is in preliminary talks to sell itself to Iconix Brand Group (ICON.O), people familiar with the matter said.

At this point, the goal of Iconix, which owns and licenses clothing brands such as Candies, Joe Boxer, and Rocawear, is to bring in a publishing partner to buy Playboy's namesake magazine while it would keep the brand licensing part of the company, one of the sources said.

Playboy and Iconix declined to comment.

In addition to its well-known magazine, Playboy also has TV operations and a licensing business based on its "Bunny Ears" logo, an image of a rabbit wearing a bowtie.

The sources declined to give further detail and spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks were not made public.

Bloomberg was first to report the story, after which Playboy's shares rose 41 percent, closing at $4.06 on the New York Stock Exchange.