Do Leather Bindings Get You Excited? A Sneak Peek into the Treasures and Good Book Sale Sept 14-16, 2017 at the Toronto Reference Library
UPDATE – the sale in 2019 is from Septebmer 12 – September 14th (see here for details)
Do unclipped dust jackets on first edition hardcovers make your toes curl?
If so, then you'll really enjoy the Treasures and Good Book Sale Sept 14-16, 2017, sponsored by The Friends of the Toronto Public Library, South Chapter. They've sorted, sifted and priced thousands of books in many categories like art and photography, first editions, author-signed copies, unusual sets, antique children's books and rare or out of print books. I've also seen hundreds of reasonably priced "reading copies" and coffee table type books. Most material is priced between $2 and $15, and there are no DVDs or LPs at this sale.
Treasures and Good Books Sale
Thursday, September 14, 9:30 a.m. – 7 p.m. ($2 admission first day only)
Friday, September 15, 9 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Saturday, September 16, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Beeton Auditorium, Toronto Reference Library, 789 Yonge Street
Sorry to those of you who like to bargain – prices are firm. Good news though, we accept cash, debit or credit card. Please note … bring your own bags or you can buy library bags at the info desk on the main floor of the library (not inside at the sale itself).
Winston Churchill’s six volume The Second World War (Chartwell Edition) at $36 is for the history or military buff, impressive on the bookshelf, and will provide many days and nights of endless reading from a key figure in the War.
Did you know that Churchill was First Lord of the Admiralty? Thus I seamlessly segue into the hefty and lovely navy blue (like the water?) Maclachlan’s Law of Merchant Shipping © 1922 priced at $50 with its beautiful golden galleon on the front cover. Over 900 pages and 3.5 inches thick!
You would be forgiven for saying, "I’m just going to put my feet up and watch some TV," after hearing about the serious books above, so I might suggest TV Guide: Fifty Years of Television – a coffee table sort of book and a real bargain at $6 (less than lunch!).
Could I suggest Wine by André Dominé to go with the TV viewing and priced at $5, considerably cheaper than buying a bottle? It's 900 pages of oenophile pleasure.
There's a wide variety of accessibly priced items including :
- Harry Potter From Page to Screen $30 (even good for Muggles)
- Collector's Edition Stuart Little $4
- The Annotated Mother Goose $5
- and for the ailurophiles among you The New Yorker Book of Cats $6
In terms of rarer antiquarian type (more expensive) books, I hope this might entice you:
Banting As An Artist by A.Y. Jackson is signed by the author and a limited edition (this is numbered 229) – in very good condition – published in 1943 by Ryerson Press, ex libris and priced at $150.
There is a first edition 1977 hardcover with fine dust jacket of the Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien with typos/errors that identify it as a "true" first edition, priced at $300.
For those interested in contemporary literary first editions, there is a lovely Moise and the World of Reason by Tennessee Williams bound in deep blue leather. It's a signed first and limited edition – this is 171 of 350 copies – signed and numbered on the colophon page. Gilt titles with gilt top edge. Book very fine (bumped corners) without dust jacket as issued and priced at a $250.
After the simple elegance of the blue leather above I thought you might be intrigued by the colourful dust jacket of Sax Rohmer's 1931 Daughter of Fu Manchu priced at $60.
I leave you with this vintage 1896 Finnish Bible published in Turku, and priced at $4 and Taylor's Holy Living and Dying published in 1824 and priced at $12.
13 thoughts on “Do Leather Bindings Get You Excited? A Sneak Peek into the Treasures and Good Book Sale Sept 14-16, 2017 at the Toronto Reference Library”
Got me excited!
Just a heads up for people who haven’t been to this sale previously. Wait lines can be long but worth your time. I always find some treasures! Bring a good book to pass the time in line (ha,ha)
Got a list of all the books you selling?
No, sorry but there are literally thousands of books for sale.
Q? .. will books be organized into genre. For example, I LOVE creative non-fiction and memoir, will there be a specific area for those titles? Cheers.
It’s broadly arranged by subject – ie history, arts, literature, etc – there may be a biography area too – but I don’t think there will be a separate memoir section (just btw I just finished reading Augusten Burroughs’ Lust and Wonder which was pretty darned good … and of course there’s Pepys or Madame de Sévigné )
So are these just old library books yous don’t want or new books or what
These are mainly new books that folks have given to the Library – there will be some items that are withdrawn from the Library’s collection.
Avid collector here and I’ve gone to this sale in previous years. I never come out empty handed! A possibly strange suggestion — Have you considered putting a limit on the number of books that can be bought? Maybe even just for the first day? I only say this because I’ve been in the room at the same time as some ruthless book sellers (I’m assuming) who are very quick and greedy. I understand “first come, first served” but it can make things dicey for us seniors who might not move quite as quickly as we once did. Thanks for having a sale that offers such a great selection of books and such great prices.
Hi – thanks for reading the blog and your kind comments about the sale. There is a lot of interesting items in it – at various prices. Book scouts are common at most sales – the joy of sellers – the bane of other buyers. I will pass on your comments to the Friends of the Library who run this sale … make sure you check out the bookstore as well while you’re here or another time (it’s near the pond) – it has a great selection of stuff during the year too. Good luck with your purchases.
Being both a senior and visually impaired, I find it very very tough to navigate these sales, but would like to be able to. So I support Thomas’ suggestion or any other measures to make the sale more democratic. Perhaps the prices aren’t high enough to discourage the resellers? Another option would be to auction off some of the more desirable ones – even a silent auction would do. That gives us all a chance at at least some of the more attractive offerings, and you will likely get at least as much financial return as well as discouraging the greedy ones who make it unpleasant for the rest of us.
Can you tell me is there will be a Large Print book section?
I will pass on your comments to the Friends who run the sale. Pricing is an art not a science – if prices are too high then items may not sell. We’ve seen a large increase in attendance the last few years as we’ve promoted the sales more widely. I don’t know about large print in this sale – sorry – I can’try and find out next week.
This sounds great.
I wonder if you ever have similar sales at other Toronto library locations for those of us who aren’t downtown. Thanks!
Hi – I will pass on your comments to the Friends. There’s a lot of logistics involved in the sale – hundreds of boxes – many tables – etc – so realistically I’m not sure it could happen. Many local branches do have a book sale – and some save up material for larger sales so you may want to check that out too. Thanks Bill V.