A Readers’ Market : Sale of Rare Books Benefits Two Libraries Burned in Riots

The reputations of Mark Twain, Charles Dickens and Jerry Weinstein were put on the line Saturday in Westwood.

Twain and Dickens are authors whose rare, first edition books were placed on sale in an unusual move to help restock two neighborhood libraries destroyed in last spring’s riots.

And Weinstein? He’s an expert on antique books who helped organize the sale by attracting book dealers from as far as England.

Fortunately for the beleaguered Los Angeles Public Library system, all three ended the day with their reputations intact.

Weinstein lured more than 100 of the nation’s top book dealers to UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion for the daylong “Book Fest for Los Angeles.” The dealers came with rare books such as those by Twain and Dickens, which attracted more than 1,000 serious local collectors.

Each seller, including Robin Greer, who traveled from London for the event, paid a $750 fee to display and sell their books. The library system got that money, along with a $10 admission fee that collectors paid, plus the proceeds from Friday night’s auction of artwork, books, prints and maps.

The sale successfully ended a seven-month campaign to raise $750,000 to replace the burned-out Junipero Serra and John Muir branch libraries. Both were in mini-malls that were torched by rioters April 29.

“We’re here largely because of the cause,” said Cynthia Davis Buffington, co-owner of the Philadelphia Rare Book & Manuscript Co. She carried books and documents such as a 1556 proclamation signed by Mexican conquistador Bernal Diaz across country with her.

A display valued at $2.5 million set up by Beverly Hills book dealer Mark Hime included many of the same titles found in the two destroyed libraries. Except that his copy of “Huckleberry Finn” was a first edition inscribed by Twain--the pen name used by Samuel Clemens--and worth $175,000.

“They burned. They lost their books. They need money,” Hime said. “I specialize in books everyone’s heard of. My books represent what you’d find in a public library.”

Dealer James Lorson of Fullerton came with a thumb-size, 1820 French volume titled “Joy of Love,” valued at $350. Calabasas map collector Robert Ross showed up with a 1571 Dutch map of the world priced at $5,600.

Medical book specialist Barbara Rootenberg of Sherman Oaks had a collection of 50 19th-Century glass eyeballs for sale for $1,800 in addition to her books.

Library fund-raising coordinator Evelyn Hoffman said the event easily raised $25,000, although a final tally will not be available for several days. She said the campaign to rebuild the libraries was started by director/choreographer Debbie Allen and enriched by a $350,000 matching grant from the J. Paul Getty Trust.

Weinstein said he and Robin Smiley, editor of Firsts, a magazine on first editions, proposed Saturday’s sale after learning that Allen had donated $10,000 to the campaign. He said he had telephoned some of the dealers 10 times to arrange their participation.

“We didn’t know what we were getting into,” Weinstein said.

Smiley said: “But for kids in the ghetto, books are the way out.”

Book collectors said the rare-book dealers and their extraordinary wares--not the plight of the burned-out branch libraries--attracted them to the sale.

“Honestly, the library didn’t prompt me to come,” said Valerie Pollard of Orange, who spent several hundred dollars.

“It’s a nice incentive. But these are really high-quality dealers.”