The Book Club of California: the oars are in the water
- by Bruce E. McKinney
The Book Club of California: history moving into the future
By Bruce McKinney
The Book Club of California held its annual reorganization meeting on Wednesday, October 20th in new space under renovation quarters at 312 Sutter Street in San Francisco. I went expecting a small board and a few cranks and found a board of 15 and an involved audience of 25 on a Wednesday afternoon from 2:00 to 5:00 pm when young people are usually working and old people taking naps. This is a group committed to printing, history and books. The Club works to keep membership at 1,000 and as reported at the meeting, at 991 is almost as good as Ivory Snow [99.44%]. The meeting was actually two separate events. The first was the final meeting under the outgoing board of directors and the second the first meeting of the new board. The order and precision were impressive.
A review of the association's budget was provided and attention drawn to the year-over-year decline in the club's very substantial investments. Given the disaster that has befallen so many the club seems to be managing itself well.
Attention was also drawn to a significant source of club income, the books it publishes. It has issued many important volumes over the years. Its imprint is prestigious and no doubt one source, among many, of membership. By all accounts the printing is important for several reasons not least of which is that the club has evolved over the past fifty years into an informal trade association for the various and sundry professions associated with the design, typography, printing and binding of books. The club that once was more collector focused today includes many from the trades that make what collectors buy.
A review of club specifics, outlined in a ten-page handout along with a layout of club facilities now under construction, conveyed not just details about the work but also a clear message of an organization under firm management. Most book clubs in America and Canada are informal affairs. This book club is west coast formal. By membership, as opposed to income or assets, I believe it's the largest such club for bibliophiles in America. It is also a very democratic organization as became evident when a discussion, raised from the floor by Norman Clayton of the Classic Letterpress, became a lengthy statement and exchange on 21st century financial reality, emblematic of changes overtaking the world of books today. Mr. Clayton, a letterpress printer from Oakland has, this past year, held a $20,000 contract from the club to print its quarterly newsletter. He had recently been notified his contract would not be renewed as the club had identified both substantial savings and increasing flexibility in moving to offset. He read a long and determined letter, essentially a plea for continuity with the club's almost one hundred year tradition of printing its work letterpress. He was given extended time to present his view and a motion to review was adopted by the new board.
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. 12: Hooke, Robert. Micrographia: or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses. London: James Allestry for the Royal Society, 1667. $12,000 to $15,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Chappuzeau, Samuel. The history of jewels, first edition in English. London: T.N. for Hobart Kemp, 1671. $12,000 to $18,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Sowerby, James. Exotic Mineralogy, containing his most realistic mineral depictions, London: Benjamin Meredith, 1811, Arding and Merrett, 1817. $5,000 to $7,000.
![<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.")
