Date: Fri 27-Aug-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: JAN

Quick Words:

library-book-sale-Renjillian

Full Text:

Some Rare Books Turn Up In Book Sale Inventory

(with photo)

BY JAN HOWARD

The rare book room is always a highlight of the annual Booth Library Book Sale

during the Labor Day weekend.

John Renjillian, a rare book dealer who has lived in Newtown for 25 years, has

volunteered his expertise for the book sale for about 23 years. He decides on

the final price of a book and whether it is rare.

Mr Renjillian spends the summer evaluating and pricing the books. "I go

through them twice. I reject some, then I stack them up and go through them

again," he explained.

If a book doesn't fall within the rare or valuable book guidelines, it is

rejected and included in the sale among books in its category.

A school librarian in Ridgefield, Mr Renjillian's part-time occupation is as a

rare book dealer. Though he once had a shop, he now works from his home. He

said he has books all over his house and in his barn. He obtains them in

various ways, such as through estate sales.

His expertise has come about through a long process, he said. What it amounts

to, he said, is getting a book and researching it through book reference

catalogs and studying dealers' catalogs and auction reports.

"I read books about books, authors, and fields," Mr Renjillian said. "It's

constant study."

This is his 35th year in business. "You have to learn what's good and bad.

After 35 years, I know what's going to sell and not going to sell.

"Cooking and series books are big now," he said, though cookbooks published by

towns or organizations as fund-raisers "are just beginning to catch on."

Supply and demand is one factor in determining a collector book, Mr Renjillian

said.

He explained that if there are 100,000 people who want to collect a book but

there are a million such books available, it is probably not valuable as a

collector book.

For instance, Mr Renjillian is currently researching the value of a book

published in 1752 and printed in German about German doctors.

"There's probably not many for sale at this time," he said. "However, I don't

know how many people are interested in reading it."

The most valuable book he remembers at the book sale was one that sold last

year for $500. "We might have done better back in the old days, but I don't

remember," he said, adding that while it would be wonderful to fill a room

with $500 books, there aren't many books of that value.

"The average price of books is way down this year," Mr Renjillian said. One

book has a price tag of $200 and there are two at $75 each.

Mr Renjillian said there are usually 500 or 600 books included in the rare

book category. "Some years we do very well," he said, noting the total

available this year may be lower than usual. He has about 500 books ready for

the sale now.

Very collectible this year, Mr Renjillian said, are the limited editions by

Golden Cockerel Press of Charles Lamb's Tale of Rosamond Gray , Tillier's

Abd-er-Rhaman , the limited edition A Midsummer Eve by George Russell under

the pseudonym A.E., and a first edition of Farewell to Arms by Ernest

Hemingway (1929). The first of two printings in the first edition does not

have the fiction disclaimer, he said.

Of the Hemingway book, he said, "A first issue is more valuable. If it's in

good condition, it could be worth several hundred dollars, but ours isn't."

Among choice collectibles offered this year in the rare book category is Far

Away and Long Ago by the turn-of-the-century naturalist author William Henry

Hudson, with 32 etchings by Kaal Rosarivo. This is a 1943 Limited Editions

Club edition; only 1,500 copies were made. It is signed by both the

illustrator and the designer, and its remarkable binding is half tanned

cowhide and half hair covered.

Two first editions featured are Harrison Fisher's American Beauties (1909),

with color illustrations and Edwardian poetry, and Our National Parks (1901)

by John Muir in its original dust jacket. A number of books from the 1800s

include R. Chambers Book of Days (two-book set, 1879), Book of Abraham (1851),

and Montesquieu's The Spirit of Laws (two-book set, first American printing,

1802).

Also offered are 12 prints of pencil drawings in a portfolio, Ruins de Guerre

(1919, France) by Daniel Brinley, of war damages for disaster relief following

World War I. "This was published as a fund-raiser after World War I," Mr

Renjillian said. "World War I books are becoming popular." At $200, it is the

book sale's most expensive book.

He said two interesting offerings this year are 26 years of Model Engineering

from the 1920s through the 1940s, and four volumes on the history of the

machine gun.

Old school books are another offering in the rare books section this year, Mr

Renjillian said.

Paperbacks can be valuable, Mr Renjillian said, though he deals mostly in hard

covers. If the original price of the paperback was 25 cents, which places its

publication in the 1940s and 1950s, he might put a $1 to $2 price tag on it.

The first pocketbooks published could have a higher value, he noted.

The Booth Library Book Sale, which is one of New England's largest, offers

over 100,000 books and recordings.

The annual fund-raiser, now in its 24th year, offers hard cover and paperback

books in more than 70 categories in nonfiction and fiction.

Children's books will be available, along with computer software, LP records,

tapes and CDs, games, and puzzles.

The Booth Library Book Sale will be held inside Bridgeport Hall at Fairfield

Hills on Saturday, September 4, 10 am to 5 pm; Sunday, September 5, 10 am to 5

pm; Monday, September 6, 9 am to 4:30 pm; Tuesday, September 7, 2 to 6 pm; and

Wednesday, September 8, 10 am to 4 pm.

Admission of $5 is charged on Saturday only ($3 for members of Newtown's

Friends of the Library); tickets go on sale at 7 am. On Saturday and Sunday,

books will be sold at the marked price. On Monday, books will be 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 from 2 to 6 pm, books will be $5 per bag. Leftover books will be

free on Wednesday from 10 am to 4 pm, with donations accepted.

Refreshments will be available Saturday through Monday. All proceeds from the

book sale benefit the Booth Library in Newtown. To reach the sale, take I-84

to Exit 11, turn left at the bottom of the ramp onto Mile Hill Road, and

follow the signs about one mile to reach Fairfield Hills. Parking is free.

For more information, call the Cyrenius H. Booth Library at 203/426-4533.