120,000 books for sale
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- June
- 5
I attend two large library book sales in my general neighborhood over the summer, and the first one is planned for July 11 through 15 at a middle school in Newtown, CT. Their information, which you can find here, says that they’ll have about 120,000 used books and other media for sale, and except for the first day, it’s free to enter.
One of the reasons I like this sale is that, unlike some other sales I’ve been at, the volunteers not only separate the books by genre but they alphabetize them by author, a huge task but one much appreciated by searchers like me, who are looking for specific books to fill gaps in series.
This sale used to be held in a building on the grounds of an old psychiatric hospital, which is why my kids generally don’t come with my husband and me when we visit. All those empty buildings, all those windows with bars on them just creeped them out I was told … and this from my daughters, who read many of the vampire-based romance books now currently popular.
Now it’s held across the street from the asylum at an air-conditioned middle school. What it’s missing in atmosphere it’s picked up in comfort.
There’s a room dedicated to first editions and other expensive old books, but there’s also enough stuff just sitting out to attract someone like me, who just likes to read old novels and children’s books. I remember gazing at a couple of old Zane Greys and other westerns from the 1920s last year and being awfully tempted, and some of the old copies of children’s classics I considered, but mostly I kept hoping to find another buried Jeff Farnol. They’re getting increasingly rare, alas.
If you’re in the area in mid-July, though, I can recommend this sale from longtime experience. I don’t think I’ve ever left with less than a boxful of books that contained some real gems.
This entry was posted
on Friday, June 5th, 2009 at 10:59 am by Randi Weiner.
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