Book Sale Report Part II

Since I was just 21st in line, I was through the doors within 30 seconds of the start of the sale. The books I seek are in two locations. Some of them are on three tables in the children's book section in the front. The rest are in three bookcases in the very back of the building in the rare books section. I have no way of knowing for sure where the best books are located, as the sorting is not always consistent, but the bookcases on the back wall are where I always head first. If I'm going to find anything spectacular, it will be in those bookcases.

Once I went through the doors, I had a clear path to those bookcases in the back, since the 20 people in line in front of me all went in different directions. This is what is so great about these sales; we are all after different books and get first pick in whatever we seek. It is never necessary to be the very first person in line. So long as I am around the 20th to 30th person in line, everyone ahead of me wants different books. As I went through the doors, I began to speed up, just as everyone else did, and jogged to the back wall, pulling my luggage on wheels after me.

There were a number of Cherry Ames and Hardy Boys PCs. At first I ignored the Hardy Boys to get the Cherry Ames and to begin looking around for dust-jacketed books. I am always very nervous when I do this, because I know that I may have just seconds if there is something very good. I have had very good books taken from right in front of me in the past. I got a Nancy Drew in dust jacket listing to #18. I picked up some Thornton W. Burgess books and other miscellaneous. I finally looked at the Hardy Boys and pulled out the $1 box editions from the set and left the rest. I had to look over the bookcases several times because everything was mixed up.

I then jogged back to the tables in the front. I found so much in the back that I thought there would not be much in the front. I was wrong. They had Nancy Drew $1 box PCs and early PCs listing to Pine Hill. They had Whistling Bagpipes with the tri-fold ad; I didn't know about the tri-fold ad until later because I didn't have time to check. Books were getting grabbed fast!

I found a bunch of Happy Hollisters and a bunch of the Landmark Books. I have no personal interest in the Landmark Books, but I know that homeschoolers love them, so I took all of them. Most of them had dust jackets. I picked up a few Tom Swift, Jr., a few Judy Bolton, and some miscellaneous.

I then paid for my purchases in the Collector's Choice section. It was quite a feat of strength to get that piece of luggage shoved into my car. I think it must have weighed around 100 pounds. I then went back inside to the general section. The general section has far more books than the Collector's Choice side, and the books are mostly of no interest to me. I have to check, though. I found very little in the general section this year, less than usual. This was actually good, because by the time I reached the general section, it was so packed with people that I really could not look through the books well.

—to be continued