The 47th Friends of the C.H. Booth Library Book Sale will be held at Reed Intermediate School July 7-11. Organizers promise to deliver everything and more shoppers have come to expect from the popular community and regional event.

Shoppers will again enjoy the large selection of items, an air-conditioned venue with plentiful parking, and the assistance of knowledgeable volunteers.

The sale is the primary fundraising event by the Friends in support of C.H. Booth Library.

Book Sale Chair Denise Kaiser says there will be “approximately 120,000 books, jigsaw puzzles, games, CDs, DVDs and LPs.”

Contactless payment options and spacious display and flow will both return this year, as will Boy Scout Troop 70, “to fuel hungry shoppers at its popular concession stand on Saturday and Sunday,” according to Kaiser.

A Few Changes

Shoppers will note a few changes in the daily schedule this year.

“We’ve adjusted our schedule a bit this year,” Kaiser notes. Organizers have added a second day of discounted prices, and are bringing back popular evening hours for one night.

The 2023 sale will open Friday, July 7, at 1 pm. The admission fee is $40 for the four-hour selling period and attendance will be capped at 200. Tickets will go on sale at the school at noon.

Friday’s brief hours and entry cap were introduced in 2021.

“Originally it was for COVID, to offer the first buyers some additional space,” Friends Publicist Nancy Dvorin said June 8.

Sitting in one sorting room on the first floor of the library, Dvorin was joined by Kaiser and volunteer and professional antiquarian book specialist John Renjilian to highlight some of this year’s offerings. In adjacent rooms, volunteers continued sorting inventory ahead of its move from 25 Main Street to 3 Trades Lane in just a few weeks.

The early buying opportunity, even with an entry fee, “worked well enough, because that day seems to draw more serious dealers and professional book collectors who want to have a little space,” Dvorin added.

Kaiser agreed, saying the limited attendance on opening day “gives people a little bit of breathing room.”

On Saturday, July 8, doors will be open from 10 am to 5 pm. Admission for ages 18 and over that day is $5. Tickets go on sale that morning at 9 am.

Admission is free for everyone after Saturday.

Prices on all items will be reduced by 25 percent on Sunday, July 9, when hours will be 10 am to 5 pm.

Prices will be even lower on Monday, July 10, dropping to 50 percent off list price. Additionally, sale hours will be extended from 10 am to 7 pm for the convenience of shoppers who want to stop in after work.

Tuesday will continue to be Free Day, and the venue will be open from 10 am to 1 pm.

Gone this year is $5 Bag Day.

Friends President Richard Anthony said many shoppers over the years have said the plastic bags provided for the final day of the sale “were not ideal for packing large or heavy items.”

Additionally, he said, many shoppers have moved away from plastic bags for environmental reasons.

“This year, people can pack items in their own bags or reusable containers, taking advantage of our multiple discount days,” he said.

Categories & Prices

The 2023 sale features more than 90 well-organized categories, including children’s books arranged by reading level, mystery, romance, sci-fi, comic books, manga, classic and modern literature, popular fiction and non-fiction books that satisfy every interest from history to art, sports, cooking, gardening and crafts.

As always, prices are very reasonable. Adult books range from $1 for small mass-market paperbacks to $3 and up for trade paperbacks and some hardcovers, depending on the title and condition.

Children’s books start at 50 cents, but most fall in the 75-cent to $2 range.

Young Adult books, in the gym with adult fiction, include many award-winning titles as well as “all the popular authors and series like Divergent and Hunger Games,” according to Category Coordinator Kathryn Hanson.

Alison James, who oversees graphic books, reports that, “We have loads of comic books and manga, as well as graphic novels.”

There is a wide variety of books in adult fiction, according to Fiction Category Manager Jane Gatenby, ranging from vintage favorites to the latest best-sellers by popular authors. Titles run the gamut from classic fiction to science fiction and fantasy, romance to horror, mainstream fiction to chick lit, poetry and drama to mystery and thriller.

The sale offers more than books. Don Ragatz, who oversees puzzles and games, says in addition to hundreds of guaranteed-complete jigsaw puzzles priced at $3 and up, there will be vintage games from the 1950s-70s at this year’s sale, all in good condition and priced from $5-$15.

Thousands of CDs, DVDs and LPs, including many collectible items, are also available starting at $1 per item. Video games are now found with computer software.

The Specials Room, which houses rare and collectible items including valuable media and children’s books, is located in the Auxiliary Gym at the rear of the main gymnasium. Of particular interest this year, according to Renjilian, is an extremely rare copy of a first edition of The house servant’s directory: or, a monitor for Private Families: comprising hints on the arrangement and performance of servants’ work…and upwards of 100 various and useful receipts, chiefly compiled for the use of house servants by Robert Roberts (Boston: Munroe and Francis and NY: Charles. Francis, 1827). It is the first commercially published book by a Black American, Renjilian notes.

“It tells you absolutely everything you want to know about being a butler,” he said last Thursday afternoon, carefully opening the small volume. “He really covers everything. It’s astounding.”

While the trio noted that an online listing for the same book carries a price of $25,000 — “in a little better shape than ours,” Renjilian said — the local book expert believes the book would sell at auction for $7,000-$8,000.

“So we’ve picked something in the middle: $7,500,” he said.

It is the highest listed price to date for any item in the long-running sale.

The current record price, $4,500, was set in 2021 with the purchase of Josef Albers’s Interaction of Color. Originally published by Yale University Press in 1963, the item was a portfolio of 80 folders containing multiple screen prints.

Also of interest to collectors is a small collection of Oscar Wilde editions and material related to Arthur Conan Doyle.

Shoppers will additionally find an eclectic selection of more affordable items, including many attractive, leather-bound books; artwork; sought-after graphic novels and manga; and rare examples of CDs, DVDs, and children’s books.

“One of the pleasures for volunteers and patrons of our sale is seeing what our exciting things are each year,” said Dvorin.

As mentioned earlier, the sale is a major fundraiser presented annually by the Friends.

“Profits from the summer book sale provide the bulk of the Friends’ annual financial support of the library,” Kaiser said via statement to The Newtown Bee. “Thanks to the enthusiasm of our shoppers and generosity of our sponsors, we’re confident that our funding will again break the six-figure mark this coming fiscal year.”

For more details and updates about the sale, go to boothbooksale.org.

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Managing Editor Shannon Hicks can be reached at shannon@thebee.com.