A Bookish Saturday

Let me set the stage. There were lots of promising estate sales last week and weekend but I just wasn’t in the mood to deal with the crowds or the high prices. And I think the local flea market was on, but the last two months it’s been so disappointing that I couldn’t whip up much excitement for going. Sad really! So instead on Saturday I decided to go to my city’s monthly library book sale. I haven’t gone in a couple of years!! No reason really. Just got out of the habit. It’s held on a defunct school campus in a variety of buildings spread hither and yon. I hit both the more valuable items in the pop-up sale area and at the opposite end the bargain rooms. I got just a few books in both areas, but I am pleased overall.

CAVEAT: I am not a “serious” book buyer/seller. I don’t think I could be. I’ve seen too many aggressive/rude/cliquey ones to know this is not my tribe. I buy and sell books because I am a bibliophile, pure and simple. I love books. I don’t google them when I’m sourcing because that would kill the fun. I have a slim knowledge of what to look for and what will sell for me. I prefer books that are 40 years or older that include one or more of the following: quirky subject matter (including anatomy, astronomy, cookery, art), illustrations, author signatures, first editions.

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Here are a few I bought on Saturday (total paid: $23):

Couldn’t resist this 1933 “How to Train Dogs for the Home, Stage & Moving Pictures.” They had me at “moving pictures!” It has a few photos of dogs. Bonus, it’s a first edition. Listed for $48.

I love books like this…1915 “Putnam’s Handbook of Expression” (leatherbound and gilt edged). Listed for $24.

Okay, I bought this 1909 “The Little Colonel at Boarding School” for the cover, but looks like a sweet story. Listed for $20.

Ooooh five 1957 “A Manual of Human Anatomy” booklets in various subjects from the UK! Yes, please! Medical books sell for me, particularly illustrated ones. Now these were all packaged and taped up and they obviously didn’t want you trying to open the bag. But I was willing to take the gamble. I haven’t gone through all of them but they do have at least 8 illustrations in each, some in color.

A UK Etsy seller has similar ones that she is selling for $48 each, but she has only sold one. Hmmmm…

I thought this 1860s “Rhymes and Pictures about Bread, Tea, Sugar, Coal, Cotton, Gold” book (credited to William Newman) was so interesting. This is an ex-library children’s book with almost all the pages separated from the string binding, but these hand-colored engravings are perfect for framing. I’m not sure if I’ll see this as a whole book or split the pages into lots. Likely the later as the book is beyond salvation!

Sadly there are quite a few pages about the cotton industry which at that time relied heavily on slave labor. Just after this book was published, the U.S. Civil War started.

I bought this 1961 “A Very Welcome Death” mystery book for myself, but I’m not finding another copy for it anywhere online. How is that possible? The author, D.L. Mathews, only wrote three books. Is this one valuable? Hmmmm. Sometimes this sort of “mystery” drives me crazy. Is it a $10 book? $100? More? Something to research! [Turns out I was searching for this book with the author’s name misspelled…hence no other listings. It’s not rare…well poop.]

Now, truth be told, I don’t sell a lot of books–just one to five a month. Hardly a thriving enterprise. Still, they are fun to buy, and easy to store and ship. And usually I don’t have much money invested in them. Typically just a buck or two.

Here are a few recent sales (totals include shipping and sales tax)…

I’ll close for now, wishing you happy book hunting!

Karen