Friends Of The Library Experience A Banner Year For Collection Donations

By Nancy K. Crevier

After a slow start, donations of gently used books, CDs, and DVDs have picked up for the Friends of the C.H. Booth Library, and by the time the annual Book Sale opens its doors for the 34th year, Saturday, July 11, the organization expects to have more than 120,000 items available for purchase, said volunteers Pat Marshall and Peter Stern.

The Friends are particularly pleased this year to have been the recipient of several outstanding book collections. Among the collections is a nearly complete set of the Collector’s Lifetime Edition, leather-bound Peterson Field Guides. The 47 volumes of this 50th Anniversary collection includes a signed edition of the first volume, which is Peterson’s Guide to the Birds of the Eastern United States. The like-new collection by the naturalist Roger Tory Peterson includes several copies still in plastic shrink-wrap. “These are not just the regular bird guides,” said Friends’ volunteer Toni Earnshaw, who has been sorting through the donated collections. “The guides cover seashells, wildflowers, forest, venomous animals and poisonous plants, rocks and minerals, mushrooms, freshwater fish, and so many other subjects,” said Ms Earnshaw. “They are just beautiful.” The set will be offered for sale as one item, for $500.

The Papers of Benjamin Franklin in 28 volumes is a collection that the Friends feel will be of interest to history buffs. “This is a collection that could be donated to a library or museum specializing in Benjamin Franklin,” said Ms Earnshaw, even though four of the volumes are missing. The collection covers the years 1706 to 1779 in Benjamin Franklin’s life. His complete writings and correspondence, first issues of Poor Richard’s Almanack, Franklin’s family genealogy, legal documents, and scientific contributions are found between the covers of this series.

What has really been a bonanza for the Friends’ Book Sale this year, said Pat Marshall, is the number of cookbooks donated to the library. “It has been a banner year,” she said. “We have more cookbooks than we have ever had before.” A donation from down county last fall reaped the book sale almost 2,000 cookbooks from an estate. “The woman had started collecting cookbooks in the 1930s to the present day,” said Ms Marshall. The books had served primarily as reading material, so most were unstained and in very good condition. “The ones that we kept have beautiful dust jackets. It was an incredible donation,” Ms Marshall said.

Those cookbooks join several donated by a cookbook publisher, and 1,600 copies of Chef’s Specials of California, donated as a promotion by the distributor of the paperback cookbook. “It is a beautifully illustrated book,” said Ms Marshall, and will sell for only $1.

The library has also received several vintage cookbooks this year. “If you are looking for an early edition of The Joy of Cooking, this is the year to find it,” suggested Ms Marshall. There are also various editions of the Fannie Farmer Cook Book, including the 1931 Boston Cooking School Cookbook by Fannie Farmer. A 1905 edition of the Consolidated Library of Modern Cooking and Household Recipes provides early 20th Century housekeeping tips along with recipes of the era.

For those seeking hauntingly delicious recipes, A Treasury of Great Recipes by Mary and horror film star Vincent Price from 1965 might be just the ticket.

Cookbooks by television personalities abound, books on canning and preserving, and cookbooks with an exclusive focus will provide cooks and foodies with plenty of titles from which to choose, said Ms Marshall. “There is definitely something for everyone in the cookbook collections,” she said.

Last year, the Friends were pleased to offer more than 1,500 titles of CDs at the book sale, but this year, said Ms Earnshaw, the CD collection numbers closer to 3,000 titles. “We have every title category you can think of,” she said. The CDs by recording artists like Pete Seeger, Madonna, Smashing Pumpkins, the Oak Ridge Boys, and Dave Brubeck will sell for just $3 each.

The more than 80 categories of books this year are made up of books of exceptional quality, Ms Marshall said, and many are in such good condition or have never been opened that they are of gift quality. Books, CD, and DVD donations are welcome at any time during the year, every day that the library is open. Donations the week of the book sale may not make it into this year’s sale, but will be sorted and stored for the 2010 Annual Book Sale or used to fill the shelves of the Book Nook in the library. Pick up can be arranged for the donation of large collections.

For the five days previous to the book sale, beginning Friday, July 3, volunteers will be needed to set up at Reed Intermediate School on Trade Lane. Volunteers are asked to contact Friends of the C.H. Booth Library president Mary Maki at 426-3889. While everyone’s assistance is appreciated, managing the flow of the book sale setup is a very organized process; so walk-in volunteers are not encouraged. Volunteers with a particular expertise in any area should let Ms Maki know at the time they sign up to volunteer.

The Friends would also be grateful for some additional “brawn,” Friday, July 3, for lifting the thousands of heavy boxes of books. Volunteers with trucks would be greatly appreciated to help move the books from the nearby storage area to the Reed Intermediate School that day. Again, please contact Mary Maki to volunteer.

The Friends of the C.H. Booth Library 34th Annual Book Sale will run Saturday, July 11, through Wednesday, July 15, at Reed Intermediate School, 3 Trades Lane, across from the Fairfield Hills campus. Numbered early admission tickets at a cost of $5 go on sale for July 11 only at 7 am that day. Book sale hours are 9 am to 5 pm, Saturday and Sunday, July 11 and 12; 9 am to 7 pm, Monday and Tuesday, July 13 and 14; Monday is half-price day, Tuesday is $5 a bag day; 9 am to 1 pm, Wednesday, July 15, when all items are free.

Reed Intermediate School is air-conditioned and plenty of free parking is available.