[SixOfSpades]

1) Yes, if your Wand is running low on charges and you'd really prefer to keep that Wand for later use (as opposed to those stupid "disposable" Wands of Magic Missile), you can just sell it to a shop (Temples will not buy anything from you), and then buy it back, completely recharged. Most Wands in BG1 store a maximum of 20 charges. The tricky part is knowing how many charges your Wand has left: To find out, you can Save your game, use the Wand until it vanishes, and just Reload. (In BG2, all of the Wands have their own "Fuel Gauges.")

2) All of the History books that you find cluttering up peoples' bookshelves are there to add background to the story, and hopefully make you a smarter player. But if you're asking whether your possession of them will have any affect on actually beating the game, the answer is no. As for the Pantaloons, they are the penultimate weirdass item, and a great laugh. "Pantaloons that you would be proud to take home to Mother, if Mother rode fast and fought hard." If you happen to have them in your main character's Inventory when you export your character in Baldur's Gate II, however, you have a chance to complete an additional quest there.