goldsmid

CHARLES A. GOLDSMID

Member ABAA / ILAB

Claremont Books & Prints / 1143 Oxford Avenue

Claremont, CA 91711

Phone 909-625-2543 :: Fax/Phone 909-625-2543

STATEMENT OF APPRAISER QUALIFICATION

Before becoming a bookseller, I earned a Ph.D. (in Sociology) at the University of Chicago, spent 1967-1981 in teaching, research, and project administration (chiefly at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill). I published one book, more than a dozen articles and reviews, and served on editorial boards of two journals. In addition to building a working library, I collected books in classic American sociology (more than 1000 books) and books by and about Canadian author Stephen Leacock (180+ volumes). With others, I am writing a book on the California fine printer/publisher Ruth Thomson Saunders (1901-1952), whose work I collect (60+ volumes). I also am an active collector of bookmarks. I am a member of the Book Club of California, The Zamorano Club (Los Angeles), and the Grolier Club (New York).

After a year of mail order, I opened Claremont Books & Prints (October 1983). It is a general stock shop (about 17,000 vols., 90% hardcover; another 2,000 volumes-- chiefly antiquarian-- at a second premises). Specialties: California and the West, California press books, scholarly books especially in the social sciences, history, philosophy and literature (including literary history, criticism, biography). I have experience with books from and pertaining to 17^th century England. To date, I have issued 106 lists (most with 100-150 items each) and nine catalogs (with 105 to 420 items). I regularly exhibit at antiquarian book fairs-- ABAA Fairs in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and occasionally in Boston, Chicago, NYC, Washington, D.C.; and at Pasadena, Santa Monica, Burbank/Glendale, and other regional fairs.

I am a member of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America (ABAA/ILAB) and served on its Board of Governors (1992-1994). CA Seller's Permit: SRAP-23-740953; Federal ID# 95-3905619; Claremont Business Licenses #s 00523, 01271. Banking information available. I carry rare-book insurance (with special coverage for consignment items), in addition to conventional commercial liability and stock coverage. Library, trade, and client references available on request.

In all advertising, catalogs/lists, etc. I offer my services as an appraiser as well as a buyer/seller. I have performed more than three hundred fifty formal, written appraisals conforming to IRS requirements for a “qualified appraisal” and conforming to USPAP. Material appraised ranged from one book through more than 10,000 books; from general reading libraries through highly focused collections, to the holdings of Special Collections Departments of three Colleges and Universities. Appraised valuations for single books ranged from under $1,000 to $500,000. Appraised valuations for manuscripts ranged from under $1,000 to $3 million. Collection/ library valuations ranged from under $5,000 to over $4 million. I’ve done large-collection appraisals-- one on over 100,000 pieces of ephemera; many with more than 10,000 volumes, and several large archives (for example, one stored in 260 boxes and seventeen four-drawer file cabinets).

I have appraised collections of California ephemera, of Zamorano Eighty and other Californiana, and Western Americana. I’ve appraised scholarly libraries focused on American history, theology/church history, art history, theater history, Greek and Roman classics, 18th & 19th century English Literature. I’ve appraised collections of fine press and books about books (one with dozens to scores of titles each from Cuala, Doves, Grabhorn, Kelmscott, Nash, Vale, etc.). Appraisals have included incunables, Blaeu atlases, Audubon’s quadrupeds (folio), Redoute’s Les Roses, Curtis’s North American Indians, Lewis & Clark (1814), three fine Pynsons, the 1995 New Ellesmere Chaucer Facsimile, Hamilton’s Campi Phlegrae (1776,-1779). Ratdolt’s Regiomontanus / Calendario (1476), The Cranach Press Hamlet (1930), four copies of the Nuremberg Chronicle (1493), Euclid’s Elementa (1482), Juan de Torquemada’s Monarchia Indiana (1615), a collection on playing card history, a water resources library (that included hundreds of maps and 3,000 aerial photographs), and author collections and archives. I have appraised several collections of 19^th and 20^th century ALSs, manuscripts, and typescripts, and have appraised several manuscript journals (overlands, voyages, etc.). Some of my appraisals have included graphic art works including original wood engravings, lithos, engravings and in two special cases, oils. One appraisal included 600 maps, another seven million feet of microfilm. [Additional appraisals, are noted three paragraphs below.]

Please note that I routinely refer to others, requests made to me to do appraisals outside my areas of competence, e.g., in the last few years: mountaineering, numismatics, 18-19th cent German literature, annotated typescripts of Philip K. Dick, correspondence among mid-20^th cent. avant garde musicians, automotive history, 19^th century photography of the American West, Zeppelins & other lighter-than-air craft, weaving/fiber arts.

My appraisal clients have included eight colleges and universities, six museums and historical societies, the County of Los Angeles, The Huntington Library, two insurance firms, claimants for insurance coverage, lawyers representing both private parties and business owners, an antique appraisal firm, the owners of a flooded-out storage rental facility, college professors, collectors, and other private parties. I have done damage-related appraisals ion situations were there were water leaks, direct fire damage, and smoke & heat damage. Client purposes have included charitable tax donation, other gift valuation, insurance coverage and claims, estate settlement, property division (estate and divorce), and preparation for sale. References: Trade references are available as are those from clients and librarians familiar with my work. I have worked on formal appraisal projects with seven other booksellers (names on request).

During the last decade, and increasingly, I’ve done appraisals jointly with Robert Allen (Altadena, CA). [We work under the name Goldsmid & Allen.] These include collections on Coptic archeology, Scandinavian history, railroad history, an artist’s archive, a large and important gathering of autograph manuscript for Thoreau’s Walden, the archive of James Michener (more than 650 linear feet of books, documents, ephemera, photographs, and artifacts), 26 first editions or life-time editions of works of Jean Calvin, and a Presidential Cabinet member’s archive [Robert Finch]. We appraised a collection of 7,000 books about cats (domestic). We have also appraised the holdings of the special collections departments of three academic libraries (in each case, for insurance purposes). In 1993, I conducted an appraisal workshop/seminar for the ABAA, and I have informally advised many of my colleagues on appraisal matters.

My reference library includes more than 1300 books. Major general bibliographic and biographic resources include BM (Readex), Bib. Brit., DNB, DAB, DSB, WWWA, Appleton, NAW, Pollard & Redgrave, Wing and specialized STCs, Lowndes, Brunet, BAL, Wright, Sabin, ST-Evans, Shaw-Shoemaker, NCBEL & CBEL, IESS, ESS, EB (11,14, CD02), BCL3, Grove, Grinstein, Hill, EncyPhil., PMM, GM, Bibliog. Chemica, Caillet, Ransom, Haas, Rothschild, Arntzen & Rainwater, Ferguson, Pforzheimer, and Clair; Diringer’s and Naveh’s books on alphabets; Burke’s Armory, and Fairbairn’s Crests. I have catalogs from many landmark sales and collections including Church, Streeter, Crocker, Doheny, Garden, Martin, Siebert, Hill, Barchas, Larson, Clifford, and Volkmann. I have major bibliographic reference works in many specialty fields (and a strong collection of references on California and the West). Market references include auction records [ABPC] for 1960-2005, and more than 2,000 well-ordered dealer and auction catalogs. Among them are extensive runs of Dawson’s, and Reese catalogs. I make extensive use of a variety of on-line library/ system/meta-system catalogs including RLIN, ESTC, OCLC, MELVYL, COPAC, KVK, LC, and NUC-MC; and individual libraries in the U.S. and abroad, etc., via LIBWEB or directly. I am an experienced user of those resources and Lexus/Nexus (Academic). I subscribe to several on-line market resources (e.g., auction records) in the fields of books, art, and antiques. Through the nearby Claremont Colleges, the Huntington, or otherwise, I have access to scores of other data bases and to complete runs of ABPC, BAR, BPI; NUC, all BM/STC catalogs; catalogues raisonne, and to excellent gatherings of author bibliographies, etc. I make extensive use of book search and meta-search engines.

For more than 20 years, I have been a registered reader of manuscripts and rare books at the Huntington Library. I have been granted temporary reader cards (manuscript & rare book level) at Oxford University and Cambridge University.

My appraisals use the IRS definition of fair market value (or, another explicit and specified definition of value).

My appraisals follow rules ands guidelines in IRS Publications / Forms 561, 526, 8283; and conform to current USPAP standards. My fees are based on time spent in inventory, inspection, research, write-up, and travel. Expenses are billed at cost and receipts provided. Estimates of appraisal fees and binding upper cost limits are provided to prospective clients.

For additional information, please go to the web site: goldsmid-allen.net

082006