I have been attending the book sale in support of the NSPCC for the last twenty five years and it was quite a shock when I realised this morning that I was rummaging boxes of books for my grandchildren. When I first went I had Kathryn and Helen with me and here I am looking for good stuff for my daughter's children. I rather like it.
On entering the hall the trick is to do the first sweep, slinging everything in your bag that you think you might want to keep. Within five minutes, I had filled two carrier bags, dumped them at the holding bay, got another two and made second sweep, slightly less frenzied than the first. Third sweep is more contemplative and and takes more time and this is usually when you find things you have missed in Sweeps 1 and 2. You then find a nice quiet corner and go through everything and decide what you really really want and what you just grabbed in case anybody got there first. I have to say that everyone is very polite and friendly but I noted that there was much more room this year. Were things dropping off? Oh no said one of the nice NSPCC ladies, we are only allowed to have 200 people in the hall at any one time. The dreaded Health and Safety I gather but it did make wandering around a little more comfortable.
Under the tables are boxes of books to replenish the stock on top and underneath these tables is where it gets interesting as you squat down and crawl under to see what is what. This is a trifle more problematical for me these days but fun. You meet others down there 'Oh hello I will swap you my Christie for your Sayers and is that a Dick Francis you are sitting on?"
There has been a change over the years and I notice that there are less and less hardbacks and those that are there are ones I am not interested in. Once upon a time there were tables full of old battered second hand books, the kind that I love, but these are few and far between now. So today for the first time I only filled one bag after my first haul and discarded many, but I got some goodies.
A first edition of the Rosemary Tree which is not on my Goudge shelves so very pleased with that and Lady of Quality as first published with the cover on. Lovely.
And then this superb annotated copy of Sense and Sensibility. Large sized book with fantastic illustrations. Found it in the refill box under the table. How lucky was that?
The sale is also on tomorrow and sometimes it is worth returning on the second day as it is easier to look around and spot things you might have missed first time round. So that is what I think I shall do.
