Sacramento's Spring Book Fair, Eugene's Spring Book Sale... and a Word About Pricing
- by Karen Wright
Liz Pollock's The Cook's Bookcase.
I sold a complete mish mash of things, so now I still don't know what to bring next time. I think we broke even, but of course, we bought books, too, so there went the profit. We found a couple of new restaurants; The Squeeze Inn, which has smashingly good cheesy, cheeseburgers and the downtown Sacramento P.F. Chang's, which is a chain, but really good food and wines.
The following week, we headed to Eugene, Oregon, for the Eugene FOL Book Sale. It was interesting, and I think it may bring in more people than even the Palo Alto Friends sale does. However, they do a couple of things that drove me to scream. First, they expect you to show up at 5 a.m. to get your early number so you can get in line at 9 a.m. There were actually 5-6 people who spent the night in the line, sleeping in bags in chairs in the damp, cold, Pacific Northwest so they could get the first five or six numbers and they looked pretty rough in the morning. I think that is a bit too much for me. One of them was a very annoying, pushy woman who, when she wanted a book, would sort of hip-shove someone else out of the way. No manners, that one! We came at 4:30 a.m., got numbers 39-40, and went back to the hotel to sleep a couple of hours. We were damn glad we had done that awful awakening when we got there at 8:45 and were the 40th in a line of 300+ eager beaver booksellers. Yikkes!
They let a hundred or so in at a time, so we got in early and there were lots of quality books, many of which were overpriced, but in very nice shape. I bought four boxes, mostly western Americana and miscellaneous odd stuff that I couldn't resist. They have a terrible way of pricing the better books, however. They use those yellow dot stickers and then put scotch tape over those. They usually stick them under the Mylar covers on the good books or on top of the Mylar. But, in some cases, they stuck them directly on the d.j.s and they are a #$%^& to get off without trashing the covers. And, since I scan all covers for pictures before I take them downstairs to the bookstore, and all my Goo-Gone and stuff is downstairs in the store, I have to take them down, clean them up, then drag them upstairs again to scan them. It's damn nuisance and I know many better ways of protecting books from shop lifters.
They do have a really good check-out system. Dealers had their own checkout desk and a place to back in the cars to load without having to stand in the general sales line for an hour. I recommend checking it out if you are anywhere nearby as they did have a good selection. By the time we left to head to Portland, they were down to mostly OK books, but nothing great and there was still a long line of folks waiting to get into the sale.
We went to McMennamin's in Eugene right by the Willamette River for dinner. McMennamin's has dozens of restaurants in Oregon and Washington and the food is always good. They take historic landmark buildings and turn them into restaurants, theaters, or both. You'll find them online. So, the food was good, but Motel 6 was very noisy (too close to the freeway) and next year we will go to a different one, but that night we and the dog were too sleepy to care.
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.
Heritage Auctions Rare Books Signature Auction December 15, 2025
Heritage, Dec. 15: John Donne. Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death. London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.
Heritage, Dec. 15: Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
Heritage, Dec. 15: F. Scott Fitzgerald. Tender is the Night. A Romance.
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…
![<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.")
![<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.")
