Rare Book Monthly

Articles - September - 2012 Issue

Over a Quarter of a Million Books Sold at Larry McMurtry's "Last Book Sale"

The Last Book Sale.

The Last Book Sale.

We asked Mr. Addison whether he was satisfied with the results. He responded, “There were two measures, in my mind, of success. First, I wanted to be sure that Mr. McMurtry was pleased. I think he sensed that. I'll never forget when he said to me, 'You gave me exactly what I wanted. I made the right choice with you. Your staff did a great job as well.' That is when I breathed the biggest sigh of relief. Larry has become a great friend to me. He's such a nice man that I couldn't bear the thought of letting him down. The second measure of success was the feedback from the bidders. I, as well as the staff, were stopped in the street countless times by bidders who just wanted to thank us and tell us we had done a great job and that they had a great time. That was a great feeling. Our consignor was happy, and our bidders were happy, thus, we were happy.

“In terms of dollars, the total hammer price came in around $200,000. Selling so many books in such a short time probably depressed the prices a bit. On the other hand, we sold somewhere between 250,000 to 275,000 books in two days; that alone is no small feat. Out of just over 1,530 lots, about 10% or so didn't sell. And for many of those, there was no clear reason why. There were some great books in all of those lots. I think the volume of books that were sold played a part in some of them not selling. Some lots sold for $50 and some sold for much more. I recall one bringing $1,100. But looking at the numbers, it averaged out to about $140 per lot. The highlight of the sale was the collection of erotic typescripts which sold to Between the Covers for $2,750, plus premium. The most odd thing to me was that the Goodspeed's* sign did not sell. The opening bid was $2,500 for that item. I was shocked there were no takers at that price.

“Larry and I walked into building number 2 where there were many lots of fiction. We were standing there looking at what sold and what didn't sell. By far, the fiction section fared the worst. Larry looked at a sold lot and then at an unsold lot right next to it and said, 'It doesn't make much sense. This lot is just as good as this other one. I don't know why a person bought this one but wouldn't buy this other one.' Larry later stated that perhaps the Serendipity* sale was flooding the market with fiction at the moment.

“Personally, I wanted this sale to be a shelf-lot sale unlike any other. Larry also wanted it to be a memorable event. I think we succeeded in pulling off an auction that will be very tough to duplicate and even more difficult to top. Future shelf-sales may very well be measured against The Last Book Sale by many of the bidders who attended. After this auction, I have to think that the typical auction will seem downright boring.”

Continuing on the future of auctions, Mr. Addison emphasized the importance of turning them into events, not mere rattling off of lots. “Our challenge in the future will be to make our other auctions enjoyable events as well by offering bidders that little bit extra. I think there is a tendency to focus on the business of auctions, and it is easy to forget that auctions are as much entertainment as business. An auction is supposed to be fun. Many people come to auctions for the fun of it but end up bidding and buying. I think that when people have fun, they feel less inhibited and more free to bid. In a time when people can just as easily bid online from the comfort of their home, we want to give people a reason to show up on the auction floor, get involved, participate physically and not just virtually online, and get back in touch with how fun auctions can be.”

As to whether this formula works, we can only look at the results. Small numbers of books can readily be sold, but it is a huge, and sometimes frightening prospect booksellers with large inventories face these days when they seek to pare down inventory or exit the business. Some have found it an enormous challenge just to find someone to take large numbers of books away. On two days in the mid-summer heat of a tiny town in rural Texas, Mr. Addison managed to auction off more than a quarter of a million books. What more is there to say?

So what does the future hold for Larry McMurtry and Booked Up? Mr. Addison explained, “As for the future of Booked Up, they are still in business. I'm not sure Larry would know what to do if he didn't own a bookstore of some sort. Building number 1 is staying open, and it contains around 125,000 to 150,000 books. So, it's no small store!” As for Michael Addison and auctioneers Addison and Sarova, it's back home to Macon, Georgia, for the fall. Their next book auction is scheduled for November 17, and there is much to be done to prepare for what will include both individual antiquarian and collectible books and another 2,000 titles in shelf lots. And, in keeping with the philosophy of the South's only dedicated book auction house, the sale also promises to be an “event.”

Auctioneers Addison and Sarova may be found online at www.addisonsauction.com.

*Goodspeed's was the legendary Boston book store that was open through most of the 20th century. Serendpity Books was the shop of the late Peter Howard from which an enormous inventory is being sold by Bonham's. That fiction would be a slow-moving category is not surprising to us as that has been a particularly challenging field of late.

Kurt Zimmerman, who attended and purchased at The Last Book Sale, has kindly provided us with a link to his detailed description of this one-of-a-kind event. Here it is:  www.bookcollectinghistory.com.


Posted On: 2012-09-01 00:00
User Name: zbooks

For a first-hand account of the sale see my essay on the American Book Collecting Blog: www.bookcollectinghistory.com It will give you the flav


Posted On: 2012-09-02 00:00
User Name: scientiabk

80 cents a volume is a success?


Posted On: 2012-09-02 00:00
User Name: scientiabk

80 CENTS a volume is a success?


Rare Book Monthly

  • Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli: Pietro Aquila, Psyche and Proserpina,1690. Starting price 140€
    Gonnelli: Jacques Gamelin, Memento homo quia pulvis es et in pulverem reverteris, 1779. Starting price 300€
    Gonnelli: Giorgio Ghisi, The final Judgement, 1680. Starting price 480€
    Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli Goya y Lucientes Francisco, Los Proverbios.1877. Starting price 1000 €
    Gonnelli: Domenico Peruzzini, Long bearded old man, 1660. Starting price 2200€
    Gonnelli: Enea Vico, Leda and the Swan,1542. Starting price 140€
    Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli: Andrea Del Sarto [school of], San Giovanni Battista, 1570. Starting price 25000€
    Gonnelli: Carlo Maratta, Virgin Mary and Jesus, 1660. Starting Price 1200€
    Gonnelli: Louis Brion de La Tour, Sphére de Copernic Sphere de Ptolemée / Le Systême de Ptolemée. Le Systême de Ticho-Brahe…, 1766. Starting price 180€
    Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli: Marc’Antonio Dal Re, Ville di Delizia o Siano Palaggi Camparecci nello Stato di Milano Divise in Sei Tomi Con espressevi le Piante…, Tomo Primo, 1726. Starting price 7000€
    Gonnelli: Katsushika Hokusai, Bird on a branch, 1843. Starting price 100€
  • Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: Th. McKenney & J. Hall, History of the Indian tribes of North America, 1836-1844. Est: €50,000
    Ketterer, May 26: Biblia latina vulgata, manuscript on thin parchment, around 1250. Est: €70,000
    Ketterer, May 26: M. Beckmann, Fanferlieschen Schönefüßchen, 1924. Est: €10,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: A. Ortelius, Theatrum orbis terrarum, 1574. Est: €50,000
    Ketterer, May 26: M. S. Merian, Eurcarum ortus, alimentum et paradoxa metamorphosis, 1717-18. Est: €6,000
    Ketterer, May 26: PAN, 9 volumes, 1895-1900. Est: €12,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: Breviarium Romanum, Latin manuscript, 1474. Est: €15,000
    Ketterer, May 26: Quran manuscript from the Saadian period, Maghreb, 16th century. Est: €10,000
    Ketterer, May 26: E. Hemingway, The old man and the sea, 1952. First edition in first issue jacket. Presentation copy. Est: €3,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: Flavius Vegetius Renatus, De re militari libri quatuor, 1553. Est: €3,000
    Ketterer, May 26: K. Marx, Das Kapital, 1867. Est: €30,000
    Ketterer, May 26: Brassaï, Transmutations, 1967. Est: €6,000
  • Leland Little, May 21: Signed Artist Proof of the Monumental G.O.A.T.: A Tribute to Muhammad Ali.
    Leland Little, May 21: Assorted Rare Publications Related to H.P. Lovecraft, Including The Recluse Signed by Vincent Starrett.
    Leland Little, May 21: Two Issues of The Vagrant, Including the First Appearance of H.P. Lovecraft's "Dagon" in Number Eleven.
    Leland Little, May 21: Rare First Printing of Anne of Green Gables, With ALS from the Author.
    Leland Little, May 21: First Edition of Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, In First Issue Jacket.
    Leland Little, May 21: The Limited Paumanok Edition of The Complete Writings of Walt Whitman.
    Leland Little, May 21: Beautifully Bound Limited Flaubert Edition of The Works of Guy de Maupassant.
    Leland Little, May 21: First Edition of Bonaparte's Celebrated American Ornithology, With Spectacular Hand-Colored Plates.
    Leland Little, May 21: A Rare Complete Set of Jardine's The Naturalist's Library, With Hand-Colored Plates.
    Leland Little, May 21: Invitation to the Lincoln-Johnson National Inaugural Ball, March 4th, 1865.
    Leland Little, May 21: A Scarce Inscribed First Edition of James Baldwin's Nobody Knows My Name.
    Leland Little, May 21: Picasso's Le Goût du Bonheur, Limited Edition.
  • Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
    Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR

Article Search

Archived Articles

Ask Questions