Auction
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Auction. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a sale of property in public to the highest bidder. The sale may be conducted by written bids opened at a given time or by public outcry. An auctioneer is required usually to have a license. His compensation may be fixed at a certain percentage or by time. In either case, the goods sold may be held for his pay. If the goods are delivered to the auctioneer, especially at his place of business, he is responsible to the owner for their selling value; but not so if the goods are sold on the owner's premises and the owner acts as his own clerk. Burlesque and facetious commendation of goods is permitted to create good humor, but serious misstatements designed to mislead bidders void a sale. The auctioneer may decline to sell on a single bid; but if a second, however low, be accepted by announcement to the crowd, the article may not be withdrawn from sale. The auctioneer is responsible for the delivery of the goods to the successful bidder. In a town the display of a red flag announces that an auction is in progress. The public crier is also wont to pass along swinging his bell and calling "auction, auction." Country auctions are announced usually in local papers and by means of hand bills. In Scotland an auction is called a public roup. In selling an important property, as for instance, a large estate, the Scotch auctioneer sometimes resorts to the device of lighting an inch of candle. The highest bid made before the wick falls over and the flame over and the flame dies out secures the property. There are from 20,000 to 30,000 auctioneers in the United States . There are about 5,000 city auction houses. 2026 Editor's Note: The public outcry the entry describes went online: eBay , launched in 1995, made auctioneers of millions and remade retail. At the luxury end, houses like Christie's and Sotheby's now hammer down single paintings for hundreds of millions of dollars — the record a Leonardo at $450 million in 2017. (Ed: BR 2026-06-17)
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
the public disposal of goods to the highest bidder . None but those who have taken out an auction license are at present allowed to conduct such sales. The goods may be put up at a low figure, and then competitors for them bidding against each other will raise this to a higher price. This is what is generally done. In what is called a "Dutch auction," however , the process is reversed. The goods are put up at a price much above their value, and gradually lowered till a bid is given for them, and they are then forthwith knocked down to the one from whom it proceeded.