Doris Moskowitz, near the pandemonium at checkout and under her Dad's watchful eye.
By Bruce McKinney
While the Jefferson Airplane were singing the lyrics of Volunteers in the late 1960's just across the bay, Moe and Barbara Moskowitz, foot soldiers in the revolution, were building a book store in Berkeley that would in time become a west coast institution. It is known simply as Moe's. There are 360 degrees of book collecting and 360 degrees of book selling. But unlike geometry where every degree is equal, in the world of books each degree fluctuates and vibrates with the personalities of the players, the drumbeat of the times and the energy and intelligence of the buyers. Welcome to the world of Moe's Books on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley, California, the Fat Tuesday of west coast booksellers where the energy survives even as the eras change.
If you are an antiquarian you have to get past the building. It's new in a 1970s between-styles way. George Washington definitely didn't sleep here. Moe Moskowitz came to the Bay Area from New York in the mid-1950s. He brought his opinions and an eclectic background as activist, anarchist, painter, violinist and picture framer with him. Within a few years he found a wife and partner: Barbara and in 1959 opened a used paperback shop. In time and after several moves the Moe's you find today at 2476 Telegraph came into being. From the beginning change has been a constant. What were first paperbacks became in time new books, used books and antiquarian material. The business, which for a while spilled over into neighboring spaces, is back at a single address albeit four stories.
This is a business that buys used books and has always bought a lot of them. Some businesses expand because the space runs out. Moe's is one of them. For a while there was Moe's Annex where the python who swallowed the donkey kept extra lunch. Today the inventory once again fits within the four walls at 2476 yet even now there are high piles of just arrived material stacked new every day on counters near the main entrance. Think of it as an Ellis Island of orphaned and used books waiting to be valued, marked and sent to the appropriate floor, section, and shelf where the daily throngs wait to paw, measure and calculate the fresh prizes and choose an armful to take home. This is a business with a mission.
Floors one, two and three are new and used books with an emphasis on newer and less expensive art books. The fourth floor is a kingdom unto itself: rare and collectable material. As in sky scrapers the valuable real estate is on the top floor.
Heritage, Dec. 15: Jerry Thomas. How to Mix Drinks, or the Bon-Vivant's Companion, Containing Clear and Reliable Directions for Mixing All the Beverages Used in the United States…
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Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("Martinus Luther") to His Friend the Theologian Gerhard Wiskamp ("Gerardo Xantho Lampadario"). $100,000 - $150,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: An Exceptionally Fine Copy of Austenís Emma: A Novel in Three Volumes. $40,000 - $60,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Presentation Copy of Ernest Hemmingwayís A Farewell to Arms for Edward Titus of the Black Mankin Press. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript Signed Integrally for "The Songs of Pooh," by Alan Alexander. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript of "Three Fragments from Gˆtterd‰mmerung" by Richard Wagner. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Preliminary Artwork, for the First Edition of Snow Crash. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("T.R. Malthus") to Economist Nassau Senior on Wealth, Labor and Adam Smith. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides Finely Bound by Michael Wilcox. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: First Edition of Lewis and Clark: Travels to the Source of the Missouri River and Across the American Continent to the Pacific Ocean. $8,000 - $12,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Artwork for the First Edition of Neal Stephenson's Groundbreaking Novel Snow Crash. $100,000 - $150,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: A Complete Set Signed Deluxe Editions of King's The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King. $8,000 - $12,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("John Adams") to James Le Ray de Chaumont During the Crucial Years of the Revolutionary War. $8,000 - $12,000.
Sotheby’s Book Week December 9-17, 2025
Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Francesco Colonna. Hypnerotomachie, Paris, 1546, Parisian calf by Wotton Binder C for Marcus Fugger. €200,000 to €300,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Nausea. De principiis dialectices Gorgias, and other works, Venice, 1523, morocco gilt for Cardinal Campeggio. €3,000 to €4,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Billon. Le fort inexpugnable de l'honneur, Paris, 1555, Parisian calf gilt for Peter Ernst, Graf von Mansfeld. €120,000 to €180,000.
Sotheby’s Book Week December 9-17, 2025
Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: Salinger, J.D. The Graham Family archive, including autographed letters, an inscribed Catcher, a rare studio photograph of the author, and more. $120,000 to $180,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition of Sense and Sensibility, the author's first novel. $60,000 to $80,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: Massachusetts General Court. A powerful precursor to the Declaration of Independence: "every Act of Government … without the Consent of the People, is … Tyranny." $40,000 to $60,000.
![<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/8caddaea-4c1f-47a7-9455-62f53af36e3f.jpg "<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.")
![<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 16:</b> [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition of <i>Sense and Sensibility,</i> the author's first novel. $60,000 to $80,000.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/9a74d9ff-42dd-46a1-8bb2-b636c4cec796.png "<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 16:</b> [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition of <i>Sense and Sensibility,</i> the author's first novel. $60,000 to $80,000.")
