Only One Week Away––

Rare Gems Await Labor Day Book Sale Collectors

By Dottie Evans

One of the perennial favorite stopping places at the annual Friends of the Booth Library Labor Day Book Sale is the Rare Book Room, and this year as before, the room will be staffed by longtime rare book collector and expert, Newtown resident John Renjilian.

 “I’ve been doing this for 26 years now,” said Mr Renjilian on Monday.

 “I’ve seen some fantastic books come in here. You never know what you’ll get, but so far, this looks like a very good year.”

The Rare Book Room, which book sale patrons will find in Bridgeport Hall on the Fairfield Hills campus, is a special destination for dealers and bibliophiles who look forward to browsing among hundreds of old and collectible books.

According to Mr Renjilian, some of the rare and collectible volumes offered for sale this year include Henry Gray’s Anatomy, 1896; Harvey Cushing’s The Pituitary Body and its Disorder, circa 1912; a first edition of Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls, 1940; a stated first American edition of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, circa 1946; Frederick Winslow Taylor’s The Principles of Scientific Management, 1911; a stated first edition of J. Frank Dobie’s The Mustang, circa 1952; Igor Sikorsky’s The Story of the Winged-S, 1941, enlarged edition; and Euclid: Elements of Geometry, 1944, by acclaimed book designer Bruce Rogers (one of only 500 copies), including two original letters.

E Is For Euclid Or         Elephants

“The Rogers edition of Euclid is a particular favorite of mine,” said Mr Renjilian, “because of the beautiful wood cuts. It’s a lovely little book. In a letter accompanying the book, the designer claimed that though he had flunked the subject, he loved the imagery.”

The two letters accompanying the Euclid are an exchange between a public relations editor named Sue Raices at R.H. Macy and Company in New York, and the book’s designer, Mr Rogers. Ms Raices criticizes Mr Rogers for an error she discovered in one of the geometric illustrations, and she questions the quality of the translation from the original Greek.

Mr Rogers responds with wit and veiled sarcasm, and he begins by addressing Ms Raices as “dear cousin,” presuming that a “public relation” must be some sort of distant blood relative. He ends by offering to buy the book back from her since she is dissatisfied, because “it was oversubscribed in the first place.”

“I’m estimating we’ll put a price of $650 on this book,” Mr Renjilian said.

Interestingly, when first published in 1944, Euclid’s Geometry, Book One cost $15.

Another treasure Mr Renjilian unearthed from the donation pile over the weekend was an autographed copy of The Art Of Babar: The Work of Jean and Laurent de Brunhoff. The full-color, 190-page volume is filled with whimsical drawings and stories about the adventures of the fabled French elephant and his extended family. The publisher was Harry N. Abrams and it was printed in Italy in 1989. Mr Renjilian estimated that it might go for $200 to $250 at the sale.

How Not To Be Mobbed By Collectors

Over the years, Mr Renjilian has developed certain steps that he follows in order to protect the books, while allowing interested patrons to see them and possibly buy them.

“It helps that the Rare Book Room is usually very small, so though the line may go out the door, there are never too many in there at one time. As you can imagine, we get many repeat visitors,” he added.

He also keeps the rare or fragile books in a glass showcase, and he is always present in the room. When he needs to be away, another book sale volunteer stands by.

“I’ll be there all of Saturday, for sure,” Mr Renjilian said of the first day that the rare and collectible books will be on sale.

When he is considering what price to put on an old book, Mr Renjilian draws on his long experience as a collector of antiquarian books and he researches his Internet sources. Part of the challenge is deciding exactly what makes a book collectible even if it is not necessarily rare.

 Collectibles may include books that are desirable for qualities other than just their content, such as age and condition, pictures and illustrations, personal inscriptions, limited printing, or the inclusion of an especially good dust jacket.

One such collectible in this year’s sale is Dr Seuss’s Horton Hears a Who! (circa 1954) bearing the owner’s inscription on the dedication page.

The Friends of the C.H. Booth Library Annual Labor Day Book Sale takes place Saturday, August 30, through Wednesday, September 3. Hours are 9 to 5 each day, and the sale takes place in Bridgeport Hall on the Fairfield Hills campus.

Adult admission will be charged Saturday only, $10 from 9 am to noon, and $5 from noon to 5 pm.

For the first time this year, only Booth Library numbers will be honored so that all book shoppers are treated equitably. Numbered admission tickets go on sale Friday, August 29, from noon to 9 pm, and on Saturday, August 30, at 8 am.

 On Monday, all books and records will be half price, and on Tuesday shoppers will fill bags of books for $5. On Wednesday, everything remaining will be free.

Signs from Exit 11 on Interstate 84 will direct people to the book sale site located just off Mile Hill Road. Handicapped-accessible parking is available.

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