Friends of the Princeton Public Library Annual Book Sale Starts Friday

 

Book Sale PRinceton Library

The 2014 Friends of the Princeton Public Library features nearly 10,000 books and some special donated collections.

 

The event, which takes place in the library’s community room and in a tent on Hinds Plaza, opens with a Preview Sale Friday, Oct. 17, from 10 a.m. to noon. A ticket for the Preview Sale is $10, but is free for Friends of the Library. Numbered tickets will be available at the door starting at 8 a.m. Customers enter the sale in numerical order.

Starting at noon, admission to the book sale is free for the remainder of the sale. Hours are noon-8:30 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturday and 1-5:30 p.m. Sunday.

On Sunday, books will be sold at half price from 3-5:30 p.m. A bag sale will be held in the tent, where a standard grocery bag can be filled with books for $5. Bags will be supplied at the sale.

The sale includes a large number of art, history and political science books, and good selections in classics and literature, fiction, children’s and many other categories. Buyers will also find many old and unusual books, books in a variety of foreign languages for both adults and children, sheet music, CDs, DVDs, and audiobooks. Most books are priced between $1 and $3, with art books and special selections priced higher.

Special items at this year’s sale include:

• a substantial donation from the collection of John Wilmerding, former senior curator at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, and professor emeritus of American art at Princeton University. Included in this collection are books inscribed to Prof. Wilmerding by Walker Evans as well as other renowned artists and art scholars

• gardening books donated by a local garden designer

• a small collection of inscribed books by Ashley Montagu related to his work, “The Elephant Man: A Study in Human Dignity,” which inspired the movie and the Tony Award-winning play

• books signed or inscribed by Eugene O’Neill, John Dos Passos, Edith Sitwell, Ted Hughes, Leonard Baskin, and Abbie Hoffman

• a rare early collection from Patti Smith

• the 3rd edition of Thomas Chatterton’s Rowley poems from 1768 in the original boards

• Fine volumes by collectible illustrators include Kay Nielsen’s “The Twelve Dancing Princesses”

• J.D. Salinger’s “Franny and Zooey,” one of a number of modern first editions

This year, bar code scanners will be permitted at the tables, but collecting books to scan will not be allowed, organizers said.