Friends of the Princeton Public Library Book Sale Set for Oct. 14-16
The 2016 Friends of the Princeton Public Library Book Sale will take place Oct. 14-16 in the library’s community room and in a tent on Hinds Plaza.
One of the top used book sales in the region, this year’s sale is the largest to date with more than 12,000 books for all ages on a wide variety of topics. Most books are priced between $1 and $3, with art books and special selections priced higher.
The event opens with a preview sale on Friday, Oct. 14, 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. Barcode scanners will be permitted at the tables, but collecting books to scan will not be allowed.
Starting at noon on Friday, 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 in the community room and in the tent on Hinds Plaza. From 3-5:30 p.m. on Sunday, 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 an especially large number of art, history and political science books, and good selections in literary classics, fiction, mysteries, science and math, children’s and many other categories. Buyers will also find many wonderful cookbooks, old and unusual books, books in a variety of world languages for adults and children, CDs, DVDs and audiobooks.
Special items at this year’s sale include:
– A rare signed first edition of e.e.cummings’ 1931 collection of artwork
“CIOPW” (which stands for charcoal, ink, oil, pencil and watercolor)
– A signed and inscribed first edition of the children’s classic, “The Black Stallion,” complete with ephemera from the author, Walter Farley
– A signed copy of “Subtle is the Lord” by Abraham Pais, the definitive
biography of Einstein by his colleague at the Institute for Advanced Study
– A signed first edition of Robert F. Kennedy’s “To Seek a Newer World,” published in 1967
– 14 volumes of The Bibliophile Library fine edition of Elie Wiesel’s works, including a signed copy of “The Jews of Silence”
– A first edition of E.B. White’s first book, “The Lady is Cold”
– A first edition copy of “Letters from His Excellency, George Washington…” from 1803, in its original binding
– An first American edition of “The Kingdom of the Pearl” with illustrations by Edmund Dulac
– A rare 1888 copy of Bric-a-Brac, the Princeton University undergraduate yearbook, replete with whimsical illustrations of campus, societies and clubs, plus other Princeton ephemera
– The collection of Professor Alan Rosenthal, the eminent political scientist, former Director of the Eagleton Institute of Rutgers University
This year’s book sale is dedicated to the memory of physician and Holocaust survivor Charles Rojer, a long-time book sale stalwart who died last year.
Krystal Knapp is the founding editor of Planet Princeton. Follow her on Twitter @krystalknapp. She can be reached via email at editor AT planetprinceton.com. Send all letters to the editor and press releases to that email address.