Sunday, October 16, 2011

Survival!

I was going to post yesterday, as Friday night we attended book sale number three, but the sheer number of books from it all threatened to turn my office into its former disreputable self. After the Magical Makeover there is no way I’m about to be surrounded by leaning towers of tomes again. So I sorted it all, packed the store stock and moved it to the garage, took the mall books to the basement for processing and the rest (the smallest number) up to the office where I began listing them. I wish I could tell you that they’re all dazzling (some aren’t bad), but the Jalna novels pictured in my last post remain my favorites. Guess what though? Yesterday they sold to a blog reader – all sixteen of them which turned out to be the full set. I couldn’t be more tickled because I LOVE them and know they’ve found the world’s best home.

Friday’s night’s sale is usually one I like, but this time it fell as flat as champagne left uncorked overnight. The weather was cold with a strong wind which precluded our usual walk around the lake across the street from the library. But we did repair to a coffee shop with Paul and had a rollicking time sharing growing-up-Catholic stories. We both lived in Akron then so a lot of the landmarks matched, despite the fact that I’m five years older than he. Little did we know that while we were laughing in blissful ignorance over our mutual fall from grace, back at the library foment brewed. As several libraries have done around here, this one adopted the number system to control the line. It should have worked fine, but apparently didn’t. The three of us were numbers two, three and four, but the number one spot apparently became a bone of contention. Two of the crazies, only one of whom actually was acting crazy this time, got into a verbal sparring match which almost landed the aggressor on the curb when the sale's overseer had to break it up. Drama does add spice, but I’m delighted to have missed it.

Oddly enough, the crowd was way down, perhaps because everyone was spent, both financially and physically, from the previous two days. You would think this would be good, but it actually made little difference, as Paul, Eric and I, and one dealer from Columbus were the only non-scanners in the place. Plastic tubs are banned in the sale rooms, but the new volunteers didn’t seem to know how to .enforce it which meant the aisles resembled obstacle courses. As usual, I headed to the specials room and stayed there until the tension eased off. Always we have been able to buy at this sale with confidence no matter what the price on the book, but  our long-standing comfort zone collapsed like a tower of alphabet blocks. I realized it immediately when I picked up a book about the early days of the Shaker Heights rapid transit system and spotted its $35 price tag. I’ve had this book twice and the second time sold it for exactly that amount. From then on I bought carefully, but, even so, paid $20 too much for an art book I’ve had in the past. Fortunately, I more than made up for it on the R.E. Lee set featured in the main photo above.

When we finally got over to the main room the crowd (such as it was) had thinned and it was possible to walk around without stepping over tubs, or in my clase, slipping in behind them. I found two signed first edition children’s books, one a winner of the Kate Greenaway Prize, and a nice copy of Tasha’s Tudor’s Becky’s Christmas which is not often seen unless it’s an ex-lib. But, even with all of that, the evening seemed painted in shades of grey and muddied ochre. A woman I had never seen before lugged three enormous bags of books to the check-out only to ask where she might sort them.

“Sort them? Why would you need to do that?” the volunteer asked.

“So I can decide if I want them.”

“Why would you pick them if you’re not sure you want them?” (Great question!)

 “Because I have to scan them.”

The volunteer, thoroughly baffled, reluctantly consented and off went the woman and her bulging bags of books to the narrow hallway leading to the exit where she promptly plopped down on the floor, whipped out her scanner, and created a whole new obstacle course. Over an hour into the sale and a mountain of books that others might have actually purchased wound up discarded in a heap on the floor. The sight of them filled me with an overwhelming sense of desolation.

But now on this Sunday morning I feel better. As always, once I gained perspective and realized that I did better than I felt I had,  hope  blossomed again. In addition to the children’s books mentioned above, I got the gorgeous four volume set of Freeman’s R.E. Lee in the Pultizer Prize Edition from 1936 and a six volume boxed set of Andre Norton’s Witch World series published by Ace in the 60’s replete with its scarce Witch World map. So, in the end, I am ready to face another round of book sales 21st century style.

Which is fortunate because several dot the calendar this week.

4 comments:

sundaymornancy said...

I'm so glad to read that the Jalna White Oak novels all went to a good home. It's like kittens -- I want them to go with their brothers and sisters to the right place!
Your stories of book trolls at these sales hauling bags of books into hallways to scan then, then abandon them, make me even more convinced that real book dealers should stay above the fray while the trolls scan each other in the foot! (How's that for a metaphor?)

tess said...

Actually it begs for a comment I will refrain from making.:-) Let's just say that it made me laugh.

Anonymous said...

I am glad to see that you are so busy. Books and sellers like yourself need to survive in this economy. Keep up the good work, Tess. Gin

tess said...

Thanks. I know I whine a lot, but only when I'm around people who don't appreciate books and view them only as a means to an end. Mostly I love what I do as much as ever.