Many of us in the area began daydreaming of The Friends Annual Book Sale @ the Academy School in the dead of winter, despite the late July date. Over 10,000 used books, all at great prices, with the proceeds going to the Scranton Library.
Particularly good finds for me this year, each a hardcover for $2.00: Paintings of New England, which “gathers over 100 works by many of this country’s most favorite artists, all of whom have been awestruck by the sublime beauty of the region” (from the book jacket), and Icons of Photography, 20th Century, “more than ninety of the century’s best photographers are presented with some 160 icons of the genre” (also the book jacket). $4 picked up the Illustrated History of the Civil War. Somewhat overproduced, and overpriced at $10 was Through the Lens, National Geographic Greatest Photographs. This one is a sumptuous hardcover but ultimately a disappointment; I picked up National Geographic – The Photographs a few years ago, and found the choice of images there more compelling (though some were the same). All in all, it was a good day, with 11 books and 3 DVDs for $37.00.
This was the line one half hour before the book sale actually began.