{"id":417381,"date":"2026-07-30T01:30:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T01:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/417381\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T01:30:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T01:30:11","slug":"sold-oakland-seller-facing-eviction-finds-home-for-13000-rare-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/417381\/","title":{"rendered":"Sold! Oakland seller facing eviction finds home for 13,000 rare books"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I walked into Todd Pratum\u2019s apartment in Eastlake earlier this summer, I gasped audibly. The walls were covered with books \u2014 old spiritual tomes, religious histories, eccentric scientific texts. It was the stuff of old-timey movies; the kind of mysteriously inviting library you expect to discover in a historic mansion, not a two-bedroom Oakland apartment.<\/p>\n

I was there with a photographer to report on Pratum\u2019s looming eviction and his related attempt to sell the 13,000 rare books that live in his home before he was potentially forced to leave it.<\/p>\n

I expected Oaklandside readers to share some of my awe at the sight and description of Pratum\u2019s scholarly collection. But I didn\u2019t predict just how far the story would travel after it was published<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t believe how many people directly contacted me \u2014 at least 100,\u201d Pratum told me last week. \u201cI got a lot of calls, texts, everything. I got some really remarkable, long emails. People were really sad and wanted to help.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were the prestigious and public libraries. The woman whose grandmother belonged to a spiritual society and owned thousands of books on the subject. A well-known musician. And there were plenty of \u201cgoofballs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOne guy even called and said, \u2018I\u2019m parked in your neighborhood and I have $50,000.\u2019 That\u2019s not the way anybody does any serious business,\u201d Pratum said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pratum has decades of experience as a bookseller, both in shops and libraries he\u2019s established and to dealers out of his apartment. He also does literacy work with homeless youth.<\/p>\n

A couple of weeks ago, a particular inquiry rose to the top of Pratum\u2019s towering pile. Someone named Mollie Thomas in Los Angeles was interested in buying the books for the community space she runs, Wu:uM<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018I can\u2019t do anything unless you come up and see the books,\u201d Pratum recalled. \u201cThree hours later she flew in, and spent eight or nine hours here.\u201d<\/p>\n

When I reached her by phone last week, Thomas explained that a little over a year ago, she bought 13 pallets of books at an auction on something of a whim.<\/p>\n

That purchase changed her life. Suddenly owning thousands of books prompted Thomas, an events planner who collects rare books, to do something she\u2019d always wanted to do: open a community space and library.<\/p>\n

\"WuuMPratum\u2019s books will join an already expansive library at the community space Wu:uM in Los Angeles. Credit: Vanessa Augustin\/Courtesy Wu:uM<\/p>\n

Wu:uM is a membership-based organization in East Hollywood serving women and queer and non-binary people and offering room to relax, work, and attend workshops and creative events. It\u2019s also a functional library, mainly consisting of the diverse range of books Thomas bought at auction.<\/p>\n

Recently, a friend of Thomas\u2019, a trained astrologer and tarot reader, joined Wu:uM as its esoteric counselor<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were talking about wanting to build out the esoteric end of the library,\u201d Thomas said. During those conversions, someone sent her friend the Oaklandside article about Pratum, who specializes in \u201chermetic philosophy, spirituality, and psychical research.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI read it, and I was like, \u2018Track him down,\u2019\u201d Thomas said. At the time, she was smack in the middle of a stressful move after a flood in her home, but she acted quickly.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just this instant moment of this is a mission,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s how I work. Something clicks into my orbit, and I know it\u2019s right and I move mountains to make it happen.\u201d She was also disturbed to read in the article that Pratum was considering, under time pressure, selling his collection to an AI company to scan the books \u2014 a process that involves breaking their spines.<\/p>\n

Meeting Pratum, Thomas became even more certain of her plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe went back and forth, and I was so impressed by the way he was also vetting me,\u201d she said. She could tell how important it was for Pratum to find a buyer who cared about the collection like he did, rather than offload it to the first person who agreed to pay his $50,000 asking price. Thomas respected that he\u2019d turned away several people.<\/p>\n

Thomas hadn\u2019t slept in a week at that point, but she didn\u2019t need to sleep on the decision.<\/p>\n

Pratum told me he had similar respect for his buyer. He felt she trusted his expertise and was eager to learn from him. She\u2019s made the whole process smooth, he said.<\/p>\n

The books will be driven down to Los Angeles in pods in the next month or so. Pratum is helping Thomas figure out how the books will be organized and displayed in Wu:uM\u2019s library, she said. Some rare books will need to be encased in glass, but most will be out and available for perusing and borrowing.<\/p>\n

\u201cTodd feels the same way I do, that books are meant to be experienced and picked up and held,\u201d Thomas said. She\u2019s also eyeing another, even larger, collection Pratum has in storage.<\/p>\n

\u201cDown the road I would like to keep his life\u2019s work together,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

As for Pratum, he\u2019s hoping not to stick around long enough to learn the verdict of his eviction case. He\u2019d like to move to the desert. Specifically, a town called Morongo Valley \u201cfull of a lot of weird, eccentric people\u201d north of Palm Springs. It\u2019s pretty close to the famous Giant Rock<\/a>, Pratum pointed out. He grew up in Southern California and spent a lot of time hiking and camping around the area.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When I asked him if he could envision opening another bookshop down there, Pratum, who\u2019s almost 70, didn\u2019t hesitate to answer affirmatively.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always been a storekeeper,\u201d he said. \u201cI love meeting people in the doorway and finding out what they\u2019re interested in.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the response to the Oaklandside article only highlighted something Pratum already knew about his industry. The market for rare books has waned tremendously. Very few of the many inquiries he received were from professional dealers. He\u2019s worked in the field for decades, and described a healthy competition between dealers in the past.<\/p>\n

\u201cBack then, the whole game was to find books. We\u2019d spend the night camped in front of the San Francisco Public Library\u2019s used book sale,\u201d he said. \u201cNow it\u2019s exactly the opposite.\u201d<\/p>\n

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