A massive (close to 600 pages) as well as necessarily munificent account of ""negotiable culture"" as great names and prized objets d'art circulate through the auction palaces of America, particularly the Parke Bernet. This then is often social history as in the 19th century high society turned out to buy not only diamonds and paintings but rugs and porcelains and ""architectural exuberances,"" even rubber plants. Under impresario Kirby and his American Art Association which flourished into the 20th century, the famous collections of Mary Jane Morgan (who bought well, not wisely) and A. T. Stewart fell under the gavel; but the first imported Impressionist sale was dismissed as ""colored nightmares."" On and on Mr. Towner goes through the great sales which were often great social events. The collectors' itemization and dispersion perhaps run on at greater length titan the casual reader can absorb without being sumptuously overwhelmed, particularly with all those rich, notable presences--Charles Yerkes, William Salomon, Thomas Fortune Ryan, Hearst, Huntington, et al. In the din of the anvil chorus, an era of acquisitive grandeur is both painstakingly and animatedly recreated. The work, essentially Mr. Towner's, was completed after his death by Stephen Varble.