Library Book Sale Will Offer Some Rare And Valuable Books

By Jan Howard

A highlight of the Cyrenius H. Booth Library’s annual Labor Day Book Sale for many bibliophiles is the rare book room. Important writers are being featured this year, such as a 1972 paperback copy of America and Americans inscribed with a note by the author, John Steinbeck.

John Renjilian, a resident of Newtown for about 27 years, is the final word on whether a book falls into the rare book category or not. Mr Renjilian, who has been a rare book dealer for about 37 years, has volunteered his expertise for the book sale for about 24 of those years.

A school librarian in Ridgefield, Mr Renjilian is also a part-time rare book dealer. Though he had a shop in Fairfield until 1974, he now works from his home.

“I do shows and have space in three shops,” he noted.

If a book fits the rare or valuable book guidelines, Mr Renjilian will set a price for it. If it doesn’t, the book is included in the sale among books in its category.

He spends a good part of the summer evaluating and pricing the books. “I come in occasionally during the school year, but the bulk of the work is done in the summer,” he said.

Mr Renjilian sets the price of a book based on several sources, including auction records, the Internet, and books, such as Book Prices, Used and Rare. Supply and demand is one factor in determining a collector book, he said.

Once he establishes a price from these sources for the more upscale books, “I shoot for 60 percent of its retail value,” Mr Renjilian said. This allows dealers to make a profit when they sell the books and customers to get a break on what would be the asking price in a shop.

Most rare or valuable books, such as one by Henry Adams, are not impulse buys, he said. If there has been enough publicity about them, dealers and collectors may have looked up the book’s value before coming to the sale. If not, a book with a high price tag may not be sold the first day. “The dealers would have to research it first,” he said.

Prices vary, Mr Renjilian said. “We do a lot of decorative covers from 1890 to 1915 that sell for $3 to $5, and a fair amount of those for $25 and under.”

While the sale usually gets books that sell for over $100, this year is exceptional in that more books of higher value have been donated.

“I have had more boxes than usual,” he said.

Several hundred books will be offered in the rare book room this year. Among the finds this year is Henry Adams’ speech before the American Historical Association, A Letter to American Teachers of History, published in 1910. The book is signed by Mr Adams, and has an extra signature.

“Obviously two signatures are better than one,” Mr Renjilian said, but it would be worth more if it were inscribed to a specific person, which could add about $500 to the value of the book.

“It is not signed to a person and the March 1910 date is a week after it was published,” he said. “How do I translate what’s a realistic price?” This book may be one of the most valuable the library book sale has ever received.

“We received some excellent stuff in two boxes,” Mr Renjilian said of one donation. “I only rejected one thing.”

Some books recently received are Reminiscences of a Rebel, published by The Neale Publishing Company; A Military Genius, privately published in 1891, on the life of Anna Ella Carroll, who claimed to mastermind the Union’s Tennessee campaign in the Civil War; and books by Oscar Wilde.

The American Woman’s Home, a guide to “principles of domestic science” published in 1869, by Catherine Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe, will also be found in the rare books room, as will Pompeian (The Topography, Edifices, and Ornaments of Pompeii), which features many engraved plates. Written by noted English archaeologist Sir William Gell, the book was published in 1852 in a half leather and marbleized cover.

The History of Moses by Robert Louis Stevenson, privately printed in 1919 by the Philadelphia expert on book collecting, A. Edward Newtown, includes several inscribed notes.

Mr Renjilian pointed out a small collection of books about early photography from the 1880s and 1890s. “They’re very popular,” he noted.

Among other offerings is A Woman of No Importance, a play by Oscar Wilde, dated 1894. It is a limited edition, printed in London, and lists the cast members from the first performance at Haymarket Theatre.

There are children’s volumes, including works by L. Frank Baum and William James and a pair of Scribner illustrated classics.

Books about history are always of interest, Mr Renjilian said, but paperback books seldom find their way into the rare book room.

“I tried for several years to promote the sale of collector paperbacks, but it never caught on,” he said.

The book sale, one of New England’s largest, offers over 160,000 books and related items.

The annual fundraiser, now in its 26th year, offers hard cover and paperback books in more than 70 categories in fiction and nonfiction. All the books are arranged alphabetically by author.

In addition to the rare book room, the sale offers a large number of almost new books, an expanded offering of over 17,000 paperbacks, plus unusually large selections of science fiction, cookbooks, instructional books, and travel guides from private collections.

Over 12,000 children’s books will be available, along with computer software, LP records, tapes and CDs, games, and puzzles. Fiction is categorized (novels, mysteries, thrillers, occult, short stories, and more) and romance is now alphabetized by author. Nonfiction categories include art, biography, gardening, crafts, chess, and history, among others.

The Booth Library Book Sale will be held inside Bridgeport Hall at Fairfield Hills on Saturday, September 1, 9 am to 5 pm; September 2, 10 am to 5 pm; September 3, 9 am to 4:30 pm; September 4, 2 to 6 pm; and September 5, from 10 am to 4 pm.

Admissions of $10 (9 am to noon) and $5 (noon to 5 pm) are charged on Saturday only. Tickets go on sale at 7 am. On Saturday and Sunday, books are sold at the marked price.

On Monday, books are sold at half the marked price from 9 am to 2 pm. From 2:30 to 4:30 pm on Monday and again on Tuesday, books are $8 per bag. Leftover books are free on Wednesday, with donations accepted. All proceeds benefit the Booth Library.

Refreshments will be available.

For more information, call the Cyrenius H. Booth Library at 426-4533.