Top lot in the sale was this first edition, signed, dust jacketed copy of Firestarter by Stephen King that sold for $851.

Review by W.A. Demers; Photos Courtesy Connecticut River Book Auction

SOUTH GLASTONBURY, CONN. — Connecticut River Book Auction, which began business in 2009 as CFA Book Auction, ostensibly to raise funds for Child and Family Agency of Southeast Connecticut, evolved into the current business helmed by its predecessor’s founder Tom Gullotta. He maintains the charitable focus of the business, giving profits, after expenses, to Connecticut-based charities. Lest one thinks these are landmark donations, it should be noted that Gullotta’s business, as described on his website, is “a book auction service that focuses on selling good used books and ephemera.” It offers re-sellable books whose value is between $20 and several hundred dollars. For example, the top lot in its most recent auction conducted on October 13 at the South Glastonbury Church, a sale that Gullotta describes as much a gathering of book enthusiasts as anything else, was a first edition, signed, dust jacketed copy of Firestarter by Stephen King that sold for $851 — and that includes the buyer’s premium. Another highlight among the 207 lots of history, art, fiction and ephemera on offer was a first edition copy of American Notes by Charles Dickens selling for $817.

Online buyers beware. There’s no internet bidding.

As Gullotta sees it, “Before the advent of the internet and scattered across New England, there once were hundreds of used books shops both large and small. Some were well organized; others not so much. Before Covid, there were scores of auction houses operating out of barns, churches and other locales that on a regular basis attracted an audience of serious and not-so-serious attendees who ritually would occupy the same chair or lean against the same wall to bid on items for sale that evening.”

Tom Gullotta is the man in charge of Connecticut River Book Auction, conducting monthly in-person sales at the South Glastonbury Church.

Gullotta acknowledges that used book shops have mostly gone the way of the dinosaur, and many auctioneers have laid down their gavel in favor of the computer keyboard. His business is one of the few remaining holdouts for a live in-person and phone bid auction, conducted monthly at the church. Gullotta says his sales serve as a place to gather for the regulars who travel from across New England and from as far away as New Jersey to enjoy a meal in one of the several local village eateries prior to the auction and then bid on the ephemera and books against one another and those who have left either absentee bids or are bidding by the phone. “Consider me old school,” Gullotta says, “but internet bidding slows down an auction too much for my tastes. Phone bidding, absentee bids executed by the auctioneer and in-person bidding from the floor is a business model that allows us to sell over 200 lots in less than two hours.”

The man on the left, Duane Stevens, was victorious in snagging the two-volume set of Dickens’ American Notes. Right is John Townsend of Townsend Books.

The October 13 sale proves his point. In just an hour and 45 minutes, he says, 207 lots crossed the auction block. In addition to the top highlights of the Stephen King first edition copy and first edition of Dickens’ American Notes, notable results were posted for a diverse selection of antique and vintage books. The popularity of Kurt Vonnegut was evident in the sale. For example, signed volumes of Bluebeard went for $184; Breakfast of Champions, $437, and Slapstick, $184. Children’s books are always popular. A 1934 Pop-up Goldilocks and the Three Bears sold for $92. Amid the mixture of art, ephemera and history that sold that evening was a sleeper — a privately printed 1879 copy of The Old Sailor’s Story or a Short Account of the Life, Adventures and Voyages of Capt. Gurdon L. Allyn. It sold to a lucky in-house attendee for $356.

Prices given include the buyer’s premium as stated by the auction house. The next auction, strong on nautical material, is scheduled for November 10. For additional information, www.ctriverbookauction.com or 860-908-8067.