Pacific Book Auction - A good place to do business
- by Karen Wright
Auction Room at Pacific Book Auction.
By Karen Wright
Last month I attended my first Pacific Book Auction sale. I have bought from them online several times, making bids and either being elated that I won my prize book or deflated when I lost it. But this time, I went for the real thing, and it wasn't just an excuse to go to balmy San Francisco to escape our scorching desert heat, either. Oh, I've been to a few auctions...some books, some antiques, and I've generally bought too much for too much. This time, I went with reselling in mind and I bought much more carefully than I would have were I buying for myself. I still bought too much, but not for too, too much!
PBA Galleries is, according to Bruce MacMakin, the Senior Vice President of Consignments and Appraisals, the largest specialty book auction house in the United States. Devoted to works on paper and related arts, PBA conducts approximately twenty-five gallery auctions in a calendar year and continuous live online auctions of rare books, manuscripts, autographs, maps, atlases, prints, and photographs. But mostly, says Bruce, they just handle books. They receive some of their consignments from California, but many more come from all over the U.S. and other countries around the world. Their customer base comes from booksellers, book buyers and collectors from many countries. According to their website, "It is PBA Galleries' primary goal to maintain our high level of standards in the fine arts field and provide the best service to all who are interested in buying and selling at PBA Galleries." I certainly can't argue with that. The whole experience was very professional and the staff was gracious and widely knowledgeable.
As a bookseller, I wanted to know if they accepted consignments from many book stores that are going out of business. He replied that they usually don't, since by the time the bookseller gets around to eliminating the last of his or her inventory, s/he has already had half-price sales and all the really good, high-end books have been sold. I asked Mr. MacMakin what his ideal customer would be. "We get a lot of our consignments from estates, book scouts and collectors who are thinning their high quality collections. We have the three Ds; death, debt and divorces; those are our primary auction sources." Hey, that rhymes!
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.")
