BOOK's Pix (Dare Greatly, Live Usefully, and Share Freely )

Happy Labor Day!
I'm posting photos I took last week at the place where I LABOR.
I'm lucky and grateful that in my case, it's often true that laborare est orare: to work is to pray (that is, to offer thanks, ask for help, express wonder).

Made my day!

This note is from a long time ago--a customer asked the cashier my name so she could write a thank-you note. Her note saying my BOOK's had made her day made my day.
I framed it and keep it by my work desk.

"This literate place"

Customers in BOOK's often compliment the place (and me).
We're the only thrift store around that has an organized book department. It's really an odd choice for a poor store, but it pays off--

Not that the books section makes a lot of money, but it does pull people to the store, and not just for the objects themselves:
One man told me, "This literate place makes me feel better about living in this neighborhood."

That could sound snobby, but I know what he means:
I also feel that the hope BOOK's represent is a counterbalance to the despair we see on the street.
It's that laborare est orare thing.
The work of writing or reading a book is a blessing. I think of books as the bouillon cubes of humanity. Sometimes too salty, maybe, but a condensed version of LIFE, which is a Good.

I say thank you to people who praise the BOOK's and I usually add that every book is donated! I am evangelical (though lightly):
I want to encourage people to donate more.

I'd say donations have gotten better over the four years I've been sorting books... At least a couple people have told me they donate because we take good care of books.

Over time, I cull more incoming books and send them to recycling immediately.
Seeing the same titles in other thrift stores empowered me:
no point cluttering our shelves with best-sellers you can pick up in any thrift store, or for nothing in Little Free Libraries. They don't sell in our store, even for 49 cents.

Clear the Clutter.
I don't even bother to put out the Lighthouse-Keeper Daughter's Secret Recipes for Knitting Clubs anymore.

The Right Place

Some books are too obscure, perhaps.
I don't like Doris Lessing myself (too grim), but I thought this set of her Canopus in Argos series was a find. It sat on the Fiction + Literature shelves for a year.

I made a Science-Fiction section only this year, when several boxes of sci-fi books were donated. Before that, I didn't have enough sci-fi to fill even a shelf.
I moved these books to Sci-Fi and faced them forward, and they sold within a week.

 

 

One regular customer always reshelves any sci-fi/fantasy books I've shelved in Fic + Lit, moving them to the Sci-Fi section. People who don't like sci-fi won't look there, so I don't shelve books of interest to a larger audience there.  When I find Orwell, for instance, moved to Sci-Fi and know he's been in.
Funny this guy didn't move Lessing--I guess he didn't know the books.

Knick Knacks

I put little toys and related things alongside books, when I can find good tie-ins. Astronaut toys in with sci-fi.
Art puzzles with art books.
Minnesota mugs, statues of loons, and the like can go in with Minnesota Books. Once, I set up a pair of vintage snow-shoes in that section--they sold right away.

Once in a while, a customer plays too, adding something, which makes me happy.
Below--I faced this book forward, but some customer set up the little photo--I suppose it was tucked in the book (or another).
I set aside stuff found in books to make packets of ephemera, but I don't flip through every single book.

Signed & Inscribed

Lots of books come with inscriptions. If you like second-hand books, I consider inscriptions a plus--part of their history.

This was a bit of History: a copy of Together inscribed "Elizabeth/ Pandemic May 2020"

 

Children's drawings in books, in my opinion, are a plus.

Plenty of books come signed by the author.

Unless the author is famous, I've found that this doesn't usually increase their value in our store.

Even if they're famous, it depends... I priced a book signed by first lady Barbara Bush at the usual $1.99.
It sat around for a while before it sold; it wouldn't have sold at all if it hadn't been signed. Not a Bush loving crowd, our customers.
Maybe they'll sell it online for more, but it only goes for around $20.

But even Minnesotan, vice-president Mondale's signed autobiography sold for only $8. I'd priced it higher at first, but it just sat there.

When our former now-defeated president was in office, I sold a signed copy of his book for $95 (I think?) online. I don't sell stuff online anymore--takes more time than it's worth. I have enough to do keeping up with the incoming books (and toys).
If a book is worth $20 or more, or somehow especially stealable (e.g. Tarot card decks--seems like bad karma to steal them, but they do disappear), I put it in the glass case.

Books given as awards--I love those.
This one from Pomfret School, 1940, is a winner.
I googled the school--it's in Connecticut, and I found the book's owner too, or, his obituary: Nathaniel S. Howe died in 2011.

But darn, I regret I didn't photograph the front of this book--I don't remember what it was. (Usually they're something boringly edifying.)

If I could find it again, maybe I'd send it to one of his survivors--they're listed in his obit. Though it seems Howe lived a public life that would have left plenty of mementos––among many other accomplishments, "He and his brother, Ted Howe, won the New Britain tennis doubles championships in the early 50's"––it still might be fun to receive something of his from a thrift store in Minnesota...

I DARE YOU!

I priced this book high (for us): $4.99.
It sold almost right away (the next day), when I happened to be helping out at the cash register. I exclaimed to the buyer how cool it was. She--a hip young woman––agreed.

BELOW: I blanked out the name on the certificate pasted inside the book, in case you want to print this and challenge yourself to...

Dare Greatly, Live Usefully, and Share Freely all worthwhile things in this Life