PBA Galleries Auctions

Just a heads up - PBA Galleries upcoming auction includes quite a few lots of 3-5 LECs. Based on what similar groups have gone for through PBA in the past, it could be a very cost-effective way to build your LEC library quickly.

I have already placed my bids on 7 lots!

If I'm looking at the right auction,none of these appears to be in Fine condition which would be a pass for me.

You may be right Don, also I see no mention if Monthly Letters. I do not need to acquire a large block of LECs without the letters. I find their lot groupings frustrating as I invariably have one or more already.

Still glad aaronpepperdine let us know about it!

Yes, I lke to know if some LECs which are from the pre Shiff era available, but only if they are in Fine or better condition. Swann galleries recently had a few LECs in Fine condition, but I believe they went in the high hundreds range (Szyk bibilical copies). At those prices, you can afford to buy a less than Fine copy and rebind it.

I recently found a copy of Frost's poems (signed by Frost) for $800. I will have a Fine copy for much less than what a signed Frost usually brings. My best buy to date is a copy of the Boardman Robinson Moby Dick for $175.
It is now rebound and shown on my members gallery. I didn't start off to rebind copies as a less expensive alternative, but with these two titles, it worked out that way.

>5 leccol: Wow, Don. What an incredibly beautiful rebinding of Moby Dick you've created. I love the marbled paper and block edges. Marbling, to me, much more desirable than gilding. Excellent artistic choices on all aspects of that work.

Stunning. I'm impressed.

Thanks for the kudos, guys. The original Moby Dick was bound in full navy sheepskin. I'm starting to believe that Django is right about the sheepskin deteriorating because of the dye. At first I didn't know how to approach this redo, but I saw an Ann Muir paper that looked very 19th century and next came the goatskin which was a perfect match for the marbled paper. The page ends were marbled by Chena River Marblers in Massachusetts.The binding was done by Sam Ellenport,master binder, in Boston. He also did the slipcase covered in Iris bookcloth. The page end marbling is about 2x what gilding is, so I can't afford to do it too often.

I found the original Moby Dick in an antique shop in LA. The leather on the boards was badly peeled and the spines were missing, but the insides were Fine so I fot it for $175.

If anyone else is interested in text-block marbling, I found this video about the U.S. Government Printing Office where the fancy Congressional reports and legal books are bound. The marbling process begins to be described at about 45 seconds in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiDPY3wprkQ

Marbled and speckled text-block edges are by far the most desirable decorations in my view. I love the red and black speckling on Crime & Punisment and the light blue specking on The Gambler and Notes from the Underground. If I got a Moby Dick rebound, I think I would choose two or three colors of blue to speckle the outer block; this would mimic the mists of the sea, blowing in the air.

Here is the paper marbling process in more detail:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vk-Ta7ichz4 - this is a mini-documentary which includes a lot of interesting historical information and commentary from master marbler Curtis Finley.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6e6RM-KxR28 - a woman demonstrating at a show.

Thanks for the links, those are wonderful.

I can't remember if it's been discussed on here, but Andrewsd, have you seen fore edge painting?

http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2013/09/fore-edge-book-paintings/

>5 leccol:, et al

Really lovely job, Don--those marbled edges are superb, and thank you for sharing the source. One day I hope to rebind a Riverside Press edition of The Odyssey I've had for many years--an ex-library copy with the usual markings--and I'd love to have it look as spectacular as your Moby-Dick.

Marbling of book end pages and boards plus page ends can be frustrating, but there are a few things to keep in mind. When a book is to be bound in full leather, this is when page end gilding in 22 K gold is best used. I gilded all sides of the two Alice books. Gilding the top edges to protect against dust accumulation is also easily accomplished. You should keep in mind the time frame of when the book was first published.

Also, the illustrations should be considered. You don't want heavy marbling in color to detract from the illustrations. You don't want marbling of multi-volumes by using a marbling artist who find it hard to repeat the pattern and color for each volume you are going to rebind. Vendors like Talas work with marblers who can do repeat pages for multi-volume books.

Speckle edges can be accomplished by the binder without going to a marbler. Speckled edges are best used when the illustrations do not have a lot of color. Remember, that having boards that are intensely marbled can detract from the illustrations.

>12 leccol: Good points to consider. Both specking and marbled page edges are visible in your periphery when reading. This can occasionally be distracting if the colors between the marbling/speckling and illustrations clash.

Is it one of us bidding on lot #331? Rather than bid competitively, perhaps there is a chance of collaboration on the split? PM me if interested.

Go for it. Mine are 340, 365 and 384, 388 and 390, 395

Won 8 lots, losing 5.

Won 2, lost 5

Hmmm, I wonder if 16 and 17 were bidding against each other?

I had checked, I don't have any lots on Maretzo's list,
The end result are still a lot cheaper then what I usually got from Ebay .

But now I have some redundant books .

>19 kafkachen: I'd be interested in purchasing your duplicates, depending on what titles you have + the cost of shipping. PM me.

>20 andrewsd:,

Sure , I will let you know once they arrive.

Restarting this old thread...
PBA Galleries had an online Limited Editions Club auction today (Sale 2037).
It is very interesting and educational to see the results of it. As mostly happens in the last years in this auction house, a lot of more desirable books were sold for way higher prices than are offered on the market for copies of the same books in comparable conditions.
I was interested in several books in today's auction, but I noticed that a description of one of the lots included mold on the book. Since it seemed that all of the books were coming from the same collection, and I have sensitivity to mildew odors from books, I assumed that most books in this collection would smell moldy or musty, and I passed...

Still, it is interesting to see how many really deserving books had little interest, but more "collectible" ones sold for 1.5 to 2 times as much as could be spent for the comparable-condition copies elsewhere. Because of great enthusiasm of collectors and shipping costs, I feel that good bargains are becoming more rare in this auction house, at least for me.

>22 booksforreading: I made substantial bids on four books and lost all four auctions. The books sold for more than the same title on Abe. When comparing prices, I include the buyer's premium, tax, shipping and handling. For PBA auctions that roughly means the bid price plus fifty percent. There was no description of mold on any of the books upon which I was bidding and they were in Fine or Near Fine condition.

>23 kdweber:
Consider yourself lucky. I have inquired about several books that I was going to pursue at the auction, and a very helpful person at PBA checked these lots, and MOST of them had musty smells. There is about 80%-90% chance that the books you were bidding on had an odor. Of course, each person is different, and maybe you do not have the same sensitivity to mildew odors as I have...

And I absolutely in agreement with what you are saying about the prices. This is how I usually calculate, too.