Buy Reference Books at Auction

Many auctions now end with the sale of the collector’s reference books. A recent Early Auction Co. sale included a box of six out-of-print books on art glass by Ray and Lee Grover that sold for $225. A copy of the original catalog for the 1946 Parke–Bernet auction of pieces from Louis Comfort Tiffany’s Long Island estate sold for $805. The 210-page catalog for the sale, which included art glass, pottery, jewelry and paintings, is very rare. A box of old price guides, Wallace Nutting’s Furniture Treasury, and books on country and folk art, most out-of-print, brought $10. Buying books at auction is a way to build your library at very low cost, and often the books are autographed.