Booth Book Sale’s 25-Year History Has Many Chapters

By Jan Howard

History is on the minds of the 100 or so volunteers who make the C.H. Booth Library Labor Day Book Sale so successful each year. This year marks the sale’s 25th anniversary.

The book sale has grown from an initial card table effort with a few books in front of the library 25 years ago to an event that attracts thousands of buyers to Bridgeport Hall on the campus of the historic former Fairfield Hills Hospital campus.

This year’s book sale, set for September 2 to 5, rain or shine, features over 150,000 books in 70 categories, including rare books, fiction, children’s, cooking, gardening, travel, and many others. Records, games, and computer software are also available.

Admission is charged only on September 2. Admission is $10 from 9 am to noon, and $5 from noon to 5 pm. Sale hours are Saturday and Sunday, 9 am to 5 pm; Monday, 9 am to 2 pm, books at half price, and 2:30 to 4:30 pm, books $5 a bag; Tuesday, September 5, 2 to 6 pm, $5 a bag; and on Wednesday, September 6, from 10 am to 4 pm, books are free. Donations accepted.

Twenty-five years ago Joanne Zang, who still heads up the event, and her friend, Mary Thomas, held their first used book sale during the Labor Day parade on Main Street in Newtown.

They had set up a folding table in front of the library and sold the library’s discarded books at rock-bottom prices, netting $35 in that first effort. A few years later they were up to five tents in the library parking lot.

Four years ago the sale moved to Bridgeport Hall, and last year buyers perused over 200 tables piled to overflowing with hardcover and paperback books, all arranged by author in over 70 categories.

Bridgeport Hall may be the most unique site for a book sale in the Northeast, for its historic and social significance. Built in Federal Revival style, Fairfield Hills Hospital, at the height of its service, treated 2,500 patients and housed 500 resident staff members in homes on the periphery of its park-like campus.

Bridgeport Hall was the cafeteria and recreation hall until 1995, when the State of Connecticut closed the psychiatric institution under its policy of patient de-institutionalization. It occupies over 14,000 square feet of space, divided into two huge, walnut-paneled rooms, that during the Labor Day weekend sale are filled with tables covered with thousands of books.

The longest memories about the book sale, of course, belong to its originator, Joanne Zang, who has masterminded the operation through its 25-year history. She and other book sale volunteers shared their memories this week.

Mrs Zang remembers clearly Mr Chang and the chess books. “He went spread eagle over the table with all the chess books, ” she said. “We made over $1,000 on that one sale alone. The dealers were so mad at him because he bought every one.”

Then there is the man from Iowa, she noted, “who loaded his van with old textbooks.”

One man who comes to the sale each year always has to be told he must wear shoes, she said. “Then he goes to his car and puts on shoes.”

Bridgeport Hall is an ideal site for the sale, Mrs Zang said, in comparison to former sales held in tents in the parking lot of the library. “It is so much better for us. We can pack up the books and shift them over to there.”

The room where the volunteers sort, price, and pack books is also much more efficient than their workspace in the past, she noted. “We’re not tripping over each other.”

One sale held at the library stands out vividly in Mrs Zang’s memory. The tables, which were expected the night before, did not arrive until 11 am the next day, when the sale was to open at noon. “We set up the whole sale in one hour!” she said. About 70 people were “dragging things out of the library.”

Working at the library was very difficult in other ways prior to the addition, she said. “Downstairs we worked the whole book sale out of two stacks. It was awful.”

A downside of the sale being held at the Fairfield Hills campus, Mrs Zang said, is that “None of us has seen a parade in four years.”

Mrs Zang also remembers the year someone paid for books with a $550 bogus check, which brought about the need to ask for book buyers’ identifications when they were cashing out. “Before that we were so trusting,” she said.

Ruth Norton moved away this year, Mrs Zang said, which will bring about a change during the opening of the sale on September 2. “She always started the sale wearing a hat from The Cat in the Hat.”

 What Mrs Zang has enjoyed most through her years is watching the children of the volunteer workers grow and change, such as volunteer William Simmons, who started coming to the work sessions when he was ten and returns every summer. Five years later, “he’s now over six feet tall,” she said.

Mrs Zang also remembers an unforeseen financial windfall during a book sorting session. She was about to throw out an old biology book, when it fell from her hands, and $155 in five- and ten-dollar bills flew around her. “We used it for a pizza party for the volunteers and other odds and ends we needed.”

Cookbooks

Gloria Palmer remembers the first sale at Bridgeport Hall. She had arranged her cookbooks in a corner when she saw a tall man heading toward them. “He said he was looking for Time Life and Grand Diplomé cookbooks. He goes over, looks at the shelf, and takes all the books off the shelves and pulls out what he wants. Then he walks around the table, pulling books out, and puts them all by the cashier, who says ‘Gloria, he’s over $400.’”

She asked him if he had a restaurant. As it turned out, he was a chef in Brookfield, who had always wanted to attend the book sale, and this was his first Saturday off in 15 years. He said he gave out the books, which were written by top chefs, to students in his cooking class.

Ms Palmer’s interest in cookbooks led her to trying some of the recipes, which she brought in to book sale work sessions. “This crew was my taster’s crew. They were my best critics. I thank them for being my tasters.” The volunteers will miss those goodies because Ms Palmer is moving to Wisconsin at the end of the month.

Volunteer Julie Starkweather, who is in charge of the 10,000-plus paperbacks that are contributed to the sale, knows the frustration of going to a book sale and not being able to find a book she wanted. In fact, that’s what brought her into the book sale volunteer fold.

“I was a customer. Those were the days when they had the sale in a tent. I got frustrated looking for a mystery writer and couldn’t find anything,” she said. “I started alphabetizing the books, and got another two or three people helping me. The people at the book sale thought I was crazy. They didn’t think it would work. Everybody does it now.”

No longer just a customer of the book sale, Ms Starkweather works year-round, sorting the paperbacks by category and author. “It’s fun. We sell more because people can find them. It’s easy to see everybody loved it. It seemed to make sense.”

Paula Pitts remembers how she got involved in the book sale five years ago. “I was new in town, and came to the library to get a library card. I asked if there was any way to help out, and I’ve been here ever since.”

Caroline Stokes remembers the children during the book sale. “We would have a children’s corner with a rug, and the kids would be reading away their new books while their parents were still looking around.”

During a recent work session at the library, Mrs Stokes looked around the room, noting, “Look at the spirit! We are so appreciative of all the volunteers. They’re always responding.”

While volunteers in one room were sorting, pricing, and packing the latest assortment of books, another group was in another, putting labels on post cards to be mailed out about the book sale.

Isabelle Koehler, who reviews first edition books for value, remembers what it’s like on the first day of the sale. “There is all this confusion when we’re opening up, and Joanne is trying to tell the crew directions as to where to go and what to do, while there’s this long line outside. When we open the door, they come in like a hoard of locusts.”

First In Line

Denise Kaiser described how book dealers are always first in line on Saturday. “The first day of the sale brings home how people feel about it, especially the dealers, who load up boxes of books and hide them under sheets to save them. They look at them with wholly different eyes than we do.”

About 22 years ago the volunteer group was so small that some of the members’ children were utilized for pricing children’s books, Daphne Gibney remembers. “Joanne found books priced at 17 cents, 22 cents,” she said. “It would certainly make it hard to make change.”

Then there was the year it rained so hard that the tables sank in the mud and the books were sliding off. “It’s funny now,” Mrs Gibney said. “It wasn’t then.”

In those early days of the sale, the young people had a lemonade stand where they charged two cents for cookies and three cents for lemonade. “We’ve come a long way,” Mrs Gibney said. “We make such a lot of money on the food booth now.”

Mrs Gibney said, “Everyone is like family. We’ve worked together a long time, and we have such fun.”

Dan Cruson, Newtown’s town historian, a volunteer of over 20 years, usually works in the rare book room as cashier. He said while some people can get over eager in their desire for a particular book, it is very rare that they become aggressive. One incident over the years, however, he noted, “almost led to a fist fight.”

He said book sale volunteers “really enjoy books, and we all borrow books from it throughout the year, and then bring them back for the sale. We know what authors everyone likes and keep a look out for each other’s favorites.”

John Renjilian, who has volunteered his expertise as a rare book dealer every year for over 20 years, remembers “almost a physical encounter” over math books. “Two guys almost came to blows. Who would have thought? Some of the math books presumably had some value.”

Summing up the 25 years of continuity and success of the book sale, Mrs Zang noted, “I think it’s the friendliest book sale around. We’re user-friendly. It’s just a great experience.”