The Successor to Bangs & Co. (Established 1833) No. 5 West 29th Street, New York UNEQUALED facilities for the handling and sale Sales of Private Collections * Extract from the Will of Edmond de Goncourt: (Trans.) "My wish is that my Drawings, my Prints, my Curiosities, my Books-in a word these things of art which have been the joy of my life-shall not be consigned to the cold tomb of a museum, and subjected to the stupid glance of the careless passer-by; but I require that they shall all be dispersed under the hammer of the Auctioneer, so that the pleasure which the acquiring of each one of them has given me shall be given again, in each case, to some inheritor of my own tastes." October, 1905. The Anderson Auction Company begs to call to the particular attention of the readers of its Catalogues the following unsolicited testimony of the President of one of the leading Historical Societies of the State of New York to the advantages of book-buying at auction sales, and his personal experiences in sending bids direct to the Auctioneer. The following extract is made from his article which appeared in a recent issue of the "Post-Express" of Rochester, N. Y. The sale of books at auction has been a regular business in this country for very many years, but of late it has grown to great proportions, and each year the sales are attended by a constantly increasing number of buyers, while the mail-order business has increased even faster, the principal auctioneers sending their catalogues to book-buyers throughout the country, receiving bids and executing them without charge. There is, however, a popular misconception as to this method of transacting business, and when this is removed the mail-order business will be of enormously greater volume than it is now. It is taken for granted by many people that if they should send in a bid of $10 for a book and nobody else bids more than $4 or $5 the sale will be made to them at $10; but this is not the fact. The writer of this article bid $10 at one sale during the past season and secured the book for $1; he had no other competitor and the auctioneer executed the commission just as the writer would have done if he had been present at the sale. Again, a bid of $5 was sent and the book was secured for 75 cents, the only other bid being 50 cents. Over and over again book-buyers have tested this point, sending in bids by mail and then attending the auction in person to see how their commissions were handled. There is every reason to suppose that the book auction business is conducted on high and liberal principles, and that bids by mail afford both an easy and a safe way of securing desirable additions to one's library." We also append the following extract from a letter recently received by The Anderson Auction Company from the writer of the above article: "Your Catalogues are extremely interesting, are always read with close attention, and then sent on to other book-buyers." OF THE INTERESTING PRIVATE COLLECTION OF C. J. K. JONES (LOS ANGELES, CAL.) WITH ADDITIONS FROM OTHER COLLECTIONS COMPRISING UNCOMMON WORKS ON BOTANY, ORNITHOLOGY, ENTOMOLOGY, HORTICULTURE AND KINDRED SUBJECTS; ALSO SETS OF STANDARD AUTHORS, LINCOLNIANA, AMERICANA, A SMALL COLLECTION OF BOOKPLATES, FOR SALE AT AUCTION WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON, JAN. 3, LOTS 66 66 THURSDAY 4, FRIDAY 5. 66 66 66 1-300 301-600 601-889 The Anderson Auction Company No. 5 WEST 29TH STREET, NEW YORK BIDS ARE ALWAYS UNDERSTOOD AS BEING MADE AT SO MUCH PER VOLUME |