Annual Friends Of Booth Library Book Sale Will Feature Rare & Collectible Children’s Books

By Nancy K. Crevier

When the Friends of the C.H. Booth Library 35th Annual Book Sale opens July 10 for its four-day run at Reed Intermediate School on Trades Lane, among the 120,000 items offered for sale will be approximately 15,000 children’s books and related items. And of those 15,000 items, a small group will have been selected by Friends’ category coordinators Denise Kaiser, Janice Bernard and rare book expert John Renjilian as collectibles or rare children’s books.

“People don’t always realize that the children’s area of our sale is as extensive as our adult section,” said Ms Kaiser. That means that along with the fiction and nonfiction books for sale, donated children’s books can as easily be highly collectible or rare as any book written for adults.

“In Room 201, we will have older editions of popular titles, such as those books by Louisa May Alcott, {and from the] Nancy Drew and Hardy Boy series, and a few of the Tom Swift books printed in the late 19th and early 20th Century by publishers like Platt & Munk, Golden Books, and all of the famous publishing houses,” said Ms Kaiser. Some are in excellent condition, she said, with others of a sentimental “reading” condition.

“For patrons looking for illustrations for framing, we offer a few worn volumes with stunning plates,” she added. The children’s collectibles generally range in price from $2 to $10. The “A” editions, indicating a first edition, of Golden Books sell for just $4, said Ms Kaiser.

Ms Kaiser, Ms Bernard and other volunteer book sorters work together with Mr Renjilian to identify children’s books that are of more value to buyers than the typical donation.

“We do the preliminary research on books that we think might be of interest to John,” said Ms Bernard. That includes checking if a book is first edition, which pressing it is, what its value is online, and the condition of the book. The condition of the book is particularly key in determining if the book will end up in the rare books collection at the sale or in the collectibles.

According to the American Book Exchange, a rare book “… implies the book is extremely scarce, perhaps turning up once every ten years or so.” First editions of books published 50 years or more ago, those with limited run, the first novel by any current celebrity writer, those with a distinguishing quality such as a documented history (a book JFK had on his bed table the day he was assassinated), or an early printing of a book with a fault may also be considered rare.

“There are levels of how valuable books are,” said Ms Kaiser, and a difference between a collectible and a rare book. A collectible book is one that is not necessarily meant for reading. It may appeal to a dealer or to online sellers, but frequently is snapped up by a person whose heartstrings are touched by a book. Other books are valued for aesthetic reasons. It can also include a beautifully reissued book with a tooled leather cover or attractive jacket artwork. In children’s books, particularly, the reissue of a classic book with illustrations by a famous artist may make a book collectible.

Books that are signed by or inscribed by the author are also collectible, said Ms Kaiser. Many collectors value the autograph, while others find the personal inscriptions endearing or personally relatable.

On Monday, June 7, Ms Kaiser’s initial excitement that a first edition of Madeleine L’Engle’s A Swiftly Tilting Planet had come into their possession quickly turned to resignation as she noted that the back of the dust cover listed subsequent books, a clue that this was actually a later edition.

“That’s the way it goes, though,” she said.

“John [Renjilian] has educated us to be a lot more discerning over the years,” Ms Bernard said. “Then once the sale is set up,” she explained, “John goes through it and occasionally will pull a book that we missed.”

 “People will go through an older book and fall in love with not just the story, but the artwork, and some of the older books have beautiful illustrations or plates,” said Ms Bernard. As an example, she and Ms Kaiser compared the richly colored and detailed drawings in Platt & Munk’s 1938 collection, Stories That Never Grow Old, with newer children’s books, that while attractive, lacked the depth of the old favorite. “To put a book like Stories That Never Grow Old with a book like the new Wiggle, Waggle would never work,” declared Ms Kaiser.

As a retired Head O’ Meadow teacher, Ms Bernard can vouch for the fact that some collectibles from the annual book sale end up on the shelves of schoolteachers. “We’re not necessarily looking for collectibles for our classroom libraries,” she said, “but for myself, I might have found a real old classic of my time to use as a theme for my class. We could compare the style of writing from that era with a modern author as a kick-off to a writing unit, for example. One that I found and loved when teaching was Howard Garis’s Uncle Wiggly’s Happy Days.”

As children’s category sorters for the Friends’ book sale, Ms Kaiser and Ms Bernard handle many children’s and young adult’s books that have a huge “oh” factor.

“I think of when we saw the rare copy of Anne of Green Gables come through the sorting room,” said Ms Kaiser, “and saw John’s big smile. There was a big ‘oh’ factor with that one. So many times, we pick up a book and it brings back memories.”

For Ms Bernard, this year the “oh” factor was one of the original Nancy Drew series that was donated. “There was something about that old texture on the cover that brought me back to my first independent reading experience,” she said. “It sort of tickles the hair on the back of your neck.”

It is the Little Indian series that tickles the fancy of John Renjilian. “They come through every year, and they sure bring up the memories for me,” he said.

The book sorters have learned to differentiate between their personal reactions, though, and what they know book sale customers will pick up.

Choice Picks

Among the children’s collectibles that will be offered for sale this summer are the first edition Little Golden Book Dale Evans and the Lost Gold Mine; an inscribed and signed edition of the Magic School Bus at the Waterworks by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degan; and an older version of Chronicles of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery. “There are beautiful plates in this copy,” said Ms Kaiser, “and we’ll be selling it for just $6.”

Another L.M. Montgomery book that passed through the sorting room at the library and into Mr Renjilian’s hands was a copy of Anne of Green Gables.

“This is considered a rare book,” said Mr Renjilian of the first edition, third impression copy of the book that made Ms Montgomery a household name in her time. The book is in excellent condition.

Also going into the rare books collection at the sale will be a number of books by Horatio Alger, Jr, an author popular between 1860 and the early 1900s, said Mr Renjilian.

“They are rags to riches stories, popular at that time, and include two first edition copies. A really mint early Horatio Alger book could bring in $100,” he said, but he expects that these will probably go for less than $100 a copy.

These books, he added, may not look as pristine as some of the collectibles or other rare books, but because they were written for children, they were never intended to last 100 years. “They were badly made, it’s true,” he said. “None would pass condition standards for adult literature, but because of what they are — children’s books — they have a different standard applied to them,” he explained.

Also for sale this year will be a set of books by Alexandre Dumas, author of The Three Musketeers. Originally written for adults in the 19th Century, the books probably have more appeal as children’s literature, said Ms Kaiser.

Whether seeking a special book for daily reading or a special book to pull from the shelf occasionally and gently leaf through, the Friends of the C.H. Booth Library 35th Annual Book Sale is certain to have something of interest.

The sale will take place Saturday, July 10, through Wednesday, July 14, at Reed Intermediate School. On Saturday only, there is an admission price of $5. Numbered admission tickets will go on sale that morning at 7 am. Saturday and Sunday, the sale runs from 9 am to 5 pm; Monday, half-price day, the hours are 9 am to 7 pm; Tuesday, $5 per bag day, the sale is 9 am to 7 pm. Wednesday is free day, with the sale running from 9 am to noon.

Reed Intermediate School is at 3 Trades Lane, across from the Fairfield Hills Campus. There is ample free parking and the school is air-conditioned for shopping comfort.