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Articles - December - 2004 Issue

Got a Revolution, Got to Revolution

- by Bruce E. McKinney

It says it all right here.

It says it all right here.


Fifteen years ago Doris, Moe and Barbara's daughter, joined the business. She started in the stacks and worked her way down. Seven years ago Moe passed away. It became Barbara's hope and wish that Doris would take the business over and she lived to see it. She died in 2001.

In the business, as reorganized now under Doris' direction, the new and used book business co-exists with the valuable art & antiquarian department which resides on the top floor, perhaps to be a bit closer to Moe in his transfigured state. On most days Gene Barone, John Wong and Ken Eastman can be found buying and selling old and rare books there. Art books are, as they had been in the past, a principal component of the collectible material.

The business formula, unchanged over the decades, is straightforward if hard to duplicate. Buy books at fair prices and sell them at fair prices. This keeps the margins narrow but also keeps the material flowing. For those with books to sell it is the chance to get a decent offer for what you are ready to part with. For buyers it is the promise of a constantly fresh inventory and the possibility of finding interesting and unusual material at reasonable prices. It makes sense but it is the exception rather than the rule in the book business today.

For book buyers and book sellers both the shop and the neighborhood are attractive destinations. There are ten book stores in a four block area. Besides Moe's there are Cody's, Shakespeare's, Cartesian, University Press Books, Revolution, Book Zoo and Friends of the Berkeley Library selling between them a complete range of material. There are also two textbook sellers: Ned's, and ASUC. Taken together, they represent a full day and more of book browsing. The first three floors of Moe's are open 7 days a week. The fourth floor is open every day from noon until 6:00 pm.

Rare Book Monthly

  • ALDE, Apr. 8: GUEVARA (ANTONIO DE). Histoire de Marc-Aurèle, Empereur Romain, vray miroir et horloge des Princes. Paris, Pierre et Galliot du Pré, frères, 1565. €3,000 to €4,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: HEURES DE LA VIERGE. Horæ in laudem beatissimæ virginis Mariæ ad usum Romanum. Paris, Charles L'Angelier, 1556. €4,000 to €5,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: MONTAIGNE (MICHEL DE). Les Essais. Édition nouvelle, trouvée après le deceds de l'autheur… Paris, Abel L'Angelier, 1595. €6,000 to €8,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: [ROJAS (FERNANDO DE)]. Celestina, tragicomedia di Calisto et Melibea, tradotta de lingua castigliana in italiano idioma… Venise, 1531. €2,000 to €3,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: CAMÕES (LUÍS DE). Os Lusiadas. Lisbonne, Pedro Crasbeeck, 1613. €2,000 to €3,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: CERVANTES (MIGUEL DE). El Ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha. Bruxelles, Roger Velpius & Huberto Antonio, 1611. €6,000 to €8,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: LA FONTAINE (JEAN DE). Fables choisies, mises en vers. Paris, Denys Thierry et Claude Barbin, 1678-1694. €6,000 to €8,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: CERVANTES (MIGUEL DE). El Ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha. Madrid, Joaquin Ibarra, 1780. €3,000 to €4,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: DIDEROT (DENIS) ET JEAN LE ROND D'ALEMBERT. Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. Paris, 1751-1765. €15,000 to €20,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: [LIVRE TISSÉ]. LAMARTINE (Alphonse de). Les Laboureurs. Poème tiré de Jocelyn… Lyon, J. A. Henry, 1883. €8,000 to €10,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: [LIVRE TISSÉ]. Livre de prières tissé d'après les enluminures des manuscrits du XIVe au XVIe siècle. Lyon, [A. Roux], 1886. €5,000 to €6,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts & Objects from Three Important Collections
    Open for Bidding 2-17 April
    Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: [Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun]. Le Roman de la Rose, [Geneva or Lyons, c.1481], first printed edition of the most important medieval French vernacular poem. £200,000 to £300,000.
    Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: Castiglione. Il libro del cortegiano. [Venice], April 1528, first edition, in a magnificent binding by Jean Picard for Jean Grolier. £100,000 to £150,000.
    Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: Jacobus de Cessolis. Schachzabelbuch, Strasbourg, 1483, von der Lasa copy. £50,000 to £70,000.
    Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: World Championship, 1972. A collection of 84 press photographs of the famed match between Spassky and Fischer. £2,000 to £3,000.
    Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: Ben Franklin. Autograph letter signed, to Lord Shelburne, British Prime Minister, during peace negotiations, November 1782. £15,000 to £20,000.

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