A signed copy of Toni Morrison’s “Song of Solomon” and a first-edition copy of “Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant” – dated 1885 – are among the treasures to be found at the Friends of the Princeton Public Library’s annual book sale.
Those books – and thousands of others – will be available at the book sale, set for May 10-12 in the library’s Community Room. The library is located at 65 Witherspoon St., on the corner of Witherspoon Street and Wiggins Street in Princeton.
The book sale opens with a preview sale on May 10 from 10 a.m. to noon. Tickets for the preview sale – issued in numerical order – cost $15 apiece, but are free to Friends of the Princeton Public Library. Admission is in numerical order.
At noon, the book sale is open to all comers for free. The book sale hours on May 10 are noon to 8:30 p.m., and from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on May 11. On the final day of the book sale, the hours are 1 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
While there are rarities, such as first-edition copies, limited editions and signed copies, most of the books are gently used hard-cover books, soft-cover books, trade books and academic books. Most books cost $1 to $3, but the special selection books are priced higher.
All of the books are donated, mostly by local families, according to Helen Heintz, president of the Friends of the Princeton Public Library. The library receives several boxes of books daily, she said, most of which find their way onto the shelves in the library’s book store under the stairs.
The books that do not make it into the library’s book store are earmarked for the annual book sale, Heintz reported. The annual book sale and the occasional pop-up book sale allow the group to sell the extra inventory.
“Plus, the annual book sale is a fun and exciting event for the community,” Heintz said.
“The first two hours of the book sale are the busiest. We typically have 80 or 90 people waiting in line when the doors open on the first day of the sale,” she revealed.
By noon, most of the professional book brokers have finished shopping, and the book sale becomes a calm, community event for the rest of the weekend, Heintz said.
The Friends of the Princeton Public Library does not keep track of the number of attendees, Heintz said, but last year, the book sale netted nearly $21,000. This translates into the sale of about 10,000 books, she said.
The proceeds from the book sale are plowed back into the library. The Friends of the Princeton Public Library raises money for the library, particularly for its collection of books and materials. The Friends raised nearly $158,000 last year.
