Date: Fri 01-Sep-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

Booth-library-book-sale-

Full Text:

w/photo: Titles For Every Taste At The Book Sale

B Y K AAREN V ALENTA

Thousands of cookbooks ranging from the very first Pillsbury Bakeoff booklet

to brand new "coffee table" style culinary tomes will be among the more than

90,000 books available at the 20th annual Labor Day Weekend book sale at the

Cyrenius H. Booth Library.

"We have some really gorgeous cookbooks which would make wonderful gifts,"

said Jean Marie Waltz, holding up a new copy of The Cook's Treasury , one of

about 5,000 books donated this year by The Book Review of Sand Hill Plaza.

The Pillsbury Bakeoff booklet will be among the rare book offerings that are

being priced by antique book seller John Renjillian, who volunteers his time

to assess the library's collection of donations.

"The collector's guide prices the first Pillsbury at $50 if in excellent

condition," Mrs Waltz said. "John Renjillian tries to give people a break. All

of our books are definitely priced to sell."

The cookbooks range from booklets and paperbacks to complete sets of like the

12-volume Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cooking , the Grand Diplome series and

several different Time-Life series.

"We have scads of ethnic cookbooks, everything from the usual French and

Italian to Turkish, North African and Lebanese," Mrs Waltz said. "We have

foreign language cookbooks, too, such as French, of course, and also Finnish

and others."

A large selection of books on healthful cooking, vegetarian cookbooks and

special diet books are next to books by celebrity chefs such as Jeff Smith,

Graham Kerr, Pierre Franey, Paul Prudhomme and Wolfgang Puck. There are rows

of "fund-raiser" cookbooks published by churches and nonprofit organizations

and books with unusual titles such as Jack Knife Cooking and Cooking with

Astrology. Particularly appealing to today's cooks are a selection of books

with an emphasis on speedy cooking including Cook It Quick, Cooking on the Go,

20-Minute Cooking , and Cooking in 10 Minutes.

New books, including those which The Book Review donated after it closed its

Brookfield store, and another 1,000 books from a donor who wished to remain

anonymous, are marked with a red tag.

Mrs Waltz is one of about 50 volunteers who have been offering their time to

categorize and price the books. For the past 25 years, since Joanne Zang set

up a single card table in front of the library during the the 1970 Labor Day

Parade, members of the Friends of the Library and other volunteers have spent

more than 11 months each year getting ready for the next book sale.

This year in addition to an unprecedented number of mysteries, romances,

science fiction and how-to books, there are more than 1,000 records in perfect

condition including classical music, opera, theater and show tunes. For the

second year, a wide assortment of new computer software will be available at

bargain prices. There are more than 10,000 children's books, including

children's cookbooks, from pre-school to young adult.

Book sale hours are Saturday from noon to 5 pm. For those who want to be first

in the door, numbered tickets go on sale at 7 am on Saturday, priced at $3 for

residents and $5 for non-residents. On the following days, no admission is

charged. Sunday hours are 11 am to 5 pm. On Monday, books are half price from

9 am to 1:30 pm. The doors close briefly then reopen from 2 to 4 pm when all

books are $5 a bag.

Musicians will perform during the book sale. Refreshments will be available

for purchase and a craft fair by local artisans will take place in front of

the library on Sunday and Monday.

The library itself will be closed during the three days of the book sale.