Good Books

Estate sales abounded this weekend, but we couldn’t do any of them on the first day due to Eric being short-staffed at the store. But yesterday there was nothing on the agenda , so we decided to give two of them a whirl since  both were conveniently located in west Akron. Anymore I don’t even harbor high hopes when we go to estates on the first day, so by the third I figured we’d be sloughing through a barren desert. But  we had nothing to lose and if we did get anything, then good for us.

Sale one was held in an empty store, though all of the items came from the same house. If you were looking for jewelry or glass you might have called it nirvana. If you weren’t looking for jewelry or glass you might have called it a waste of time. They’d advertised “lots of books”, but the military ones they’d highlighted had of course  vanished. What was left was a mound of  “vintage” books which in estate sale-speak translates to dirty, broken, cheap editions of common turn-of-the-century titles. I sailed past them like a schooner in fair wind.

The minute I walked  in the front door the first thing I’d spotted was an old Bible from 1883 with deeply carved covers, both front and back, and a silver clasp which actually worked. The gilt on the page edges shined like a mirror and the pages themselves were pristine. Even the hinges were strong and the bonus was that it was published locally. BUT the outside showed evidence of a harder life – dings everywhere as well as wear to the leather on the spine.  They offered it to us at 30 per cent off. Not great, but not bad either, so we took it. But only because Eric is a genius at restoring these. I wish I’d taken a before picture, but enjoy the beauty of the after, as well as additional photos below.

As luck would have it, a small album filled with photos had snuggled up next to the Bible on the crowded table, so I had a look at it too. There’s corner wear and the cover was filthy, but overall it was a great buy at $17, as it’s stuffed with pictures. Amazing what a face cleaning can do too! I went through at least a yard of paper towels shining it up and every one of them turned black as the devil's heart, but I don’t mind. There’s something deeply satisfying about giving something once lovely a new chance at life.

We left that sale just $75 poorer and went on to the second. Again “lots of books” and again lots of unsold books bearing an uncanny resemblance to the “vintage” books we’d just left behind. But I am nothing if not determined, so I sat down on the floor and looked at them book by book, then went down the basement (no mustiness) and did the same thing there. And guess what? I got one good book at each place! Upstairs I found  a 1922 title, San Juan Capistrano The Jewel of the Missions, which made me sit up and take notice despite the dust bunnies hanging off all three edges of the text-block. My downstairs find was The Gear Handbook from 1962, a massive tome published by McGraw Hill and one of those technical mysteries which never fail to call my name. I paid a dollar each and both sell for good prices, which made it almost feel like 1997 again.

Once we finished up at the last sale we headed to the antiques mall to bring some new books (it’s been two weeks, the longest span ever) and finally deal with the rug which has somehow developed a ridge which looks terrible and is even more dangerous. To do this we had to unload two bookcases, move the rug out from under them, and reload them afterwards. Eric got the mall’s vacuum cleaner, but as always, it’s hard to plug it in because the socket is located on the floor in a  3” gap between two of our bookcases. Mine is the only arm that will fit in this space so, as always, I had to crawl around on the floor to get in the right position to angle the prongs into a socket I can barely see. I did it, but my back hurt for the rest of the day. I think it’s because I tripped on Eric’s suitcase Monday and fell. I wasn’t really hurt, but it was a tremendous jolt to my system and my back was a little sore afterwards. The good news is I’m a lot better today.

I suppose in terms of time it could be argued that yesterday was spent running around for an entire morning only to get four items. Of course in the past I’ve spent much less time and returned home with the back bumper of the car dragging on the road ,but I am getting the distinct impression that acquisition has become critical to more sellers than just me. Even the antiques people are complaining. So, having said that, I am pleased and grateful to have spent a Sunday morning doing what I love.

And the Thai salad I had for lunch at Panera wasn’t bad either