Saratoga News

Photograph by Robert Scheer

Historian and rare-book appraiser Wendell Hammon has lived in Saratoga since 1930. He will be among those featured at the annual Montalvo Book Fair.

Book Smart

Wendell Hammon has built a reputation on quantifying the written word

By Ann Lencioni

He was born in San Francisco in 1918, only seven days after the end of World War I. Now, 80 years and many wars later, he has been witness to awesome changes in the world. What has remained a constant in the life of Saratogan Wendell P. Hammon, though, is his great esteem for books and his endless fascination with ephemera.

"I'm not a real book collector," Hammon says . "I own certain books because I like them, not because they are particularly valuable. But I am a book appraiser--and appraising books and papers has been one of the delights of my life."

Hammon says some documents and books need to be assigned a dollar figure because of their historical value and, sometimes, for tax purposes.

He began this work in 1958 and over the years has appraised many important works, such as the papers used in the Patty Hearst trial in the '70s. "Some years after the trial, I appraised Judge Oliver Carter's bench books and papers," he says. "There were 16 boxes of materials, and two boxes of pro and con letters--should she be convicted or not? It was a fascinating collection and is now in the state library."

One of the appraisals that he says is memorable was the one of the New Almaden Quicksilver Mine papers. It involved a month of on-site work and close inspection of large maps, some several yards long. Hammon recalls that it was an extraordinary collection, with details dating back to the 1850s. It was given to Stanford University in 1974 and is now in the special-collection library.

Over the past 30 years, Hammon has conducted appraisals for a number of other prestigious institutions and at times has made valuable contributions to libraries. Those for whom has has done appraisals include the University of California, the Los Gatos Museum Association, the San Jose Museum, the Railroad and Locomotive Historical Society, Sacramento State University, the California State Library and the Nevada State Historical Society. Noted local historian Jack Douglas says, "Wendell has uncovered many famous collections, now in libraries. His expertise in appraisals is well known, and because of him, many collections have been saved."

When appraising a book or document, Hammon looks first at its condition, then at its value and purpose as a research item or an art item. He says that his 40 years' experience in the business has allowed him to develop a skill for determining an item's authenticity, although he admits there are some clever reproductions. "I've been lucky," he says. "I haven't run into too many phonies."

Perhaps Hammon's knack for not being easily fooled is in his genes. He comes from a long line of goldminers: A great-great-grandfather was one of the original 49ers, and his grandfather W. P. Hammon installed the first successful gold dredge in the state of California on the Feather River near Oroville in 1898. It quickly prospered, and by 1901 there were 21 dredges being operated by the "Gold Rush King." Most were in Yuba County, but some were as far away as Alaska, Portugal, and South America.

Hammon himself didn't need to go too far to strike gold, though. He thinks it happened in 1930 when his family moved to Saratoga. He remembers a childhood of magical times, spending carefree summers in Hakone Gardens with his aunt Mabel Pierce, who rented a house there. "I swam in the fish ponds of Hakone as a little boy," he says.

"We also lived at Rancho Bella Vista," he recalls. "That is the Charles Blaney estate not far from Villa Montalvo that still stands today. I vividly remember every detail of that house: the bookshelves for the hundreds of books, the secret doors behind the bookshelves and my room upstairs."

But mostly he remembers his "first collection," a collection of rocks. An entire room of the mansion was set aside for his rocks--the beginning, possibly, of his future fascination with collecting ephemera. "That is what you throw away, you know," Hammon says with a chuckle. "The stuff that grandpa and grandma dumped in the garbage. But some of those throwaways are extremely valuable today."

And Hammon's Archives & Artifacts on Front Street in old Sacramento, which he opened for business in 1975, is full of that "stuff."

"I specialize in Western Americana--in interesting books, in things that pertain to the old railroads, like timetables, flood-related studies and pamphlets, mining and geology publications, even a very large assortment of political buttons," he explains. At one time, Hammon's gold rush collection included many out-of-print publications, reports and diagrams of the old Comstock Lode silver mines in Virginia City. His admiration for the railroads that helped forge America's westward journey is such that Hammon states, "Of the numerous boards that I have been associated with, the California State Railroad Museum Foundation board is the one I've been most proud of."

He travels from Saratoga to Sacramento every week to "tend the shop," although an associate helps him run it. Hammon says he enjoys his weekly trips to Sacramento, even if they do take him away from Saratoga and his many interests here.

Over the years, Hammon has immersed himself in community service, having served on more than 20 boards. Presently he is a valuable contributor to the Villa Montalvo Book Committee as members work to restore the old Phelan Library.

"One of my favorite events is the Book Fair at Montalvo," he says.

"It's coming up--March 28. We bring together the better booksellers, and it's always a wonderful event."

Although there was a natural familial bent toward mining and geology in his upbringing, Hammon obtained a degree in history at San Jose State University. He credits his interest in that field of study with his lifelong attraction to things of the past, particularly his pursuit of data and relics of the gold rush era of California.

But as he seriously undertakes the awesome task of writing his life's story ("It's almost finished," he says), it's the many courses in journalism and writing for the Spartan Daily at SJSU so many years ago that Hammon surely relies on.

"I use my typewriter," he says. "Type 60 words per minute. I never did learn to use a computer."

Indeed, a computer would seem out of place in his ancient little house, bursting at its weathered seams with all the "stuff" of a life lived. An old Underwood, or maybe a Royal, more than likely would be the instrument used for the autobiography of Wendell P. Hammon.

"I've been blessed," he says. "Not with money, but with my wife, Betty--I would have been in serious trouble without her--my two sons, wonderful family and friends. My legacy would be to nurture an interest in history and not forgetting the things of the past. To encourage public duty, public service."

Villa Montalvo to stage its seventh annual Book Fair

Villa Montalvo, California's historic estate for the arts, will hold its seventh annual Book Fair on Saturday, March 28, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the estate. The Book Fair will bring together 25 distinguished book collectors and book dealers who will offer for sale rare books, including children's books, cookbooks, books about California and the West, library first editions and many more.

Saratoga author Willys Peck will be signing his book, Saratoga Stereopticon--based on his columns in the Saratoga News--from 11 a.m. to noon. Also present will be noted historian and rare-book appraiser Wendell P. Hammon.

Admission is $4 and is tax-deductible. For information, contact Book Fair chairwoman Susan Klein at 978-5497.

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