The auctioneer was trying mightily to sell the six or so stacks of old books on the counter behind him, one stack at a time. But he was hawking them to a stubborn crowd.
There weren’t many of us in the room at the auction house (a toy sale was commencing in another room), and as I looked around I didn’t see any of the people who usually buy books. One of the regulars whom the auctioneer could depend on to buy any book wasn’t there. In fact, I hadn’t seen him in months.
In a pleading voice, the auctioneer was almost giving the books away, and was even being a little hyperbolic in describing them. He held up two books: “The Story of Babar” and “Marshmallow,” flipping through the second one. A first edition, he said. The book looked too new to be a first edition to me, but I hadn’t checked the title page.
Babar was written by the French writer Jean de Brunhoff and first printed in France in 1931. It was published in Great Britain and the United States about two years later. Marshmallow was published in 1942 by Clare Turlay Newberry.
I think the two sold for a couple bucks, not more than about $5. Most of the books were children’s books, including one illustrated by N.C. Wyeth and several others whose names I didn’t know. Another was a two-volume set written by a historian who had traveled through Africa, according to the auctioneer. They were in lots of five to eight; only a few were sold as pairs.
“Look at this one,” the auctioneer said, holding the book’s front cover for us to see. From where I sat, I could not make out the title. “It was written by J.M. Barrie, who wrote the ‘Wizard of Oz.'”
“He didn’t write the ‘Wizard of Oz,'” I said to no one in particular. “Yes, he did,” said my auction buddy Janet. “I don’t think he did,” I insisted. She was just as insistent.
It didn’t sound right to me. I had mentioned the Oz book in a blog post some time ago, and I had even gotten a copy in a box lot (and had come across some collectors’ plates with scenes from the movie). This name was unfamiliar to me in connection with Dorothy and the Munchkins.
The auctioneer moved on to other items, but this author thing still nagged at me. So, I pulled out my Droid. That’s the beauty of smart phones; you can find a quick answer to any question in a flash.
I Googled “Wizard of Oz” and up popped a name that I recognized: L. Frank Baum. The Oz story was one of the tales he had told to his sons before developing it into a book titled “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.” It was printed in 1900 and later reprinted simply as “The Wizard of Oz.”
I handed my Droid to Janet so she could see the name of the true author. Didn’t want her going around with bad information in her head.
I should’ve also shown it to the auctioneer, but I’m not sure if it would have mattered much to him. Auctioneers can be notorious for exaggeration and guessing. And it’s up to the buyer to take what they say cautiously. Many of them are knowledgeable in certain fields of collecting and you can rely on their expertise. When they venture outside those areas, you should be skeptical.
A couple days ago, I was at an estate sale and an auctioneer identified some small bird water-feeders – the kind that hang on the side of a bird cage – as lighting fixtures. Several of us who knew better raised our eyebrows. One of them may have been a small fixture; the feeders do resemble small bathroom fixtures. Most, though, were bird water-feeders.
At the book auction, I started to wonder about the writer J.M. Barrie, so I Googled him. His biography mentioned one of his creations that I knew: Peter Pan. The character first appeared in a novel “The Little White Bird” in 1901, was the subject of a play “Peter Pan or The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up” in 1904 and became the novel “Peter and Wendy” in 1911. The story was one he told to the sons of a friend.
At home, I have several of the books auctioned that day: six illustrated by N.C. Wyeth, a first edition of “Marshmallow,” worn around the edges likely from many readings by a child, and a 1950 edition of “The Wizard of Oz.” I got them all as part of box lots, in much the same way as these were sold.
