Book Sale Gets A Boost From The Estate Of A Bibliophile

By Jan Howard

A contribution from the estate of Ernest Hillman, Jr, of Fairfield has increased the number of books that will be available to the public during the C.H. Booth Library’s 29th annual Labor Day Book sale September 4 through September 8. The sale will be held daily from 9 am to 5 pm at Bridgeport Hall on the Fairfield Hills campus.

Mr Hillman was born and raised in Pittsburgh but resided in Fairfield for most of his life. A graduate of Yale and of the Harvard Business School, Mr Hillman was a businessman, bibliophile, patron of the arts, philanthropist, liaison officer in the US Navy during World War II, and extensive world traveler.

Margaret Pomeroy Anderson, an accredited senior appraiser of personal property, fine arts, and residential contents, was responsible for the donation to the library book sale. She had previously done appraisal work for the C.H. Booth Library and called to see if the library was interested in the books that remained in Mr Hillman’s collection following the estate sale.

Pete Stern, a book sale volunteer, responded to that call, making several pickup truck trips to Fairfield to bring back boxes of books.

“She had valued furniture here at the library and remembered us and called,” he said. “We had no knowledge of them. It was worth it to look.

“There were more valuable books there, but those were sold through auction,” Mr Stern said. However, the books contributed to the library also have value, he noted.

The collection of approximately 3,000 books pushes the number of books offered at the sale this year near the 200,000 mark, he said.

The Hillman donation also includes many books about England’s royal family, enhancing the library’s offerings and creating a new category on royalty for this year’s sale.

“The books on royalty were most interesting to us. Anything else that came in on royalty was added to that,” Mr Stern said. Having so many books on the subject of royalty would attract buyers at the sale, he noted. There are approximately 100 titles in the royalty collection. The majority of the selections are biographies of British monarchs and other notable royals. It will be located next to the history books because there is some overlap.

The Hillman collection also contains many volumes of poetry that won the Walt Whitman Award, numerous classic literature books, a complete set of Life magazines, and travel books, as well as books in French and German. It also contains some rare and collectible books.

“The Life magazines were in the garage to be thrown away,” Mr Stern said.

Volunteers continue to work at Bridgeport Hall, sorting books in preparation for the sale, one of the largest in the Northeast.

The sale is “user-friendly.” Shoppers will be given detailed maps to locate the 76 categories of books. In one room there will be hard cover and paperback fiction, alphabetized by author and organized into subcategories including classics, mysteries, science fiction, and romance. In the nonfiction room, there will be a large selection of alphabetized biographies, in addition to other categories, such as art, architecture, math, engineering, computers, history, cooking, gardening, children’s books, home improvement, travel, and others.

The rare book room is a special feature for dealers and bibliophiles. The children’s corner features thousands of fiction and nonfiction books are organized by type, reading level, and series for easy selection. There will also be a large selection of paperbacks, as well as pop-up, board, electronic books, and classics.

The music room features records, tapes, and CDs, organized by type — from opera to jazz to rock. Classical recordings are sorted by composers.

Friends of the C.H. Booth Library numbered admission tickets for Saturday, September 4, will be on sale Friday, September 3, from noon to 9 pm, and Saturday, September 4, at 8 am, at Bridgeport Hall.

Adult admission will be charged Saturday, September 4; $10 from 9 am to noon and $5 from noon to 5 pm. Books will be sold at half price on Monday, September 6, and for $5 a bag on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the final day, books will be free.

Refreshments are available.

All proceeds benefit the library. For more information, call the Booth Library at 426-4533 or visit the website at www.biblio.org/chbooth/booksale.htm.