Monday, May 23, 2011

Random Thought - A Massive Sidetrack

So this past Saturday I acquired a massive diversion that will likely slow my reading and posting rate down to a crawl. I went to the semi-annual Purcellville Library Book Sale and, as I usually do I headed straight for the science fiction and fantasy section to begin hunting through the offerings with the aim of filling a couple of boxes with books. While I was busily pulling out piles of books and tossing them into my bags, one of the volunteers working the sale walked up to me, and we had basically this conversation:

Her: "We will sell the fantasy and science fiction books for one dollar a box."
Me: "One dollar a box? You mean one dollar for the little boxes?"
Her:"No, one dollar for any box, including those bigger pallet boxes."
Me:  Blink
Me: "How many boxes can I buy?"
Her: "As many as you want."
Me: "I'll take all of them."
Her: "You're kidding."
Me: "No, I'm serious. Just figure out a total while I pull my car around."

And so I bought every science fiction and fantasy book they had. Well, almost. Another science fiction fan came up when I was getting things together and was a little disappointed that I was taking all the books. So I gave him two boxes of books and one box of magazines. I love books, but I'm willing to share the love with other fans. Even so, I ended up with the haul of books in the picture. After I got them home and was able to count them up, I found out that I had acquired 1,297 books. For thirty-four dollars. Which works out to 0.26 cents per book. Breaking it down by type, the pile includes 47 hardbacks, 5 trade paperbacks, 1,148 mass market paperbacks, and 98 genre magazines (mostly old issues of Asimov's Science Fiction, and Fantasy & Science Fiction).

But now I need to sort through these, clean them, remove all the stickers and price tags, and then catalog them. I know for certain that some of these books are duplicates of books I already have in my collection, but I'm sure I'll find them good homes. But this is going to take a while, just getting them all into alphabetical order is going to take a couple days. Getting them cataloged in my preliminary list will take a while, let along getting them listed in my comprehensive database. This means that I will be side tracked for the next two to three weeks at least, which will cut into me reading and reviewing time, which will slow me down even more than my current glacially slow pace. On the flip side, I'm in between the spring session and summer session of classes, so that frees up a fair amount of time per week for the next few weeks. I'm not complaining. I'm going to be spending many hours with these books in the next few weeks. Other bibliophiles will certainly understand that this is a prospect that I am looking forward to.

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26 comments:

  1. OMG! Holy crap! That is a ton of books. I thought I went nuts at my library sale, but they never offer $1 a box. That is AWESOME!! Where are you going to put these? LOL

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  2. @flashlight_reader: Yeah it is! I go to library sales quite often and this was the best deal I ever got on books.

    I'm not sure right now where I'm going to keep them. I have some open shelf space, but not enough for even half this number of books. I'm having a friend come and visit for the weekend in a few weeks who is going to help me reorganize my shelves.

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  3. Seriously, I'm so jealous. Just had to throw that out there :) Happy cataloging!!

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  4. :o Its like the holy grail for fantasy/scifi fans o.o

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  5. Holy cow! That is some serious book treasure!

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  6. WOW! That is amazing. You'll be able to open your own library.

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  7. WHoa!! I am so jealous!! what a huge books you got!!! I never imagine there are people who willing to sell one dollar for ONE box. Oh my God. I wish I could get some!

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  8. Um it would be time now to open up a used book store.

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  9. What a deal!! Where I live we have an annual book 'fest' that is in the huge convention centre in town and usually spans a week or two but I always seem to be out of town or working on the first 1-2 days, so by the time I get there all the sci-fi and fantasy books are taken... I'm beginning to think perhaps you're the culprit or at least a long-distant Australian relative of yours!

    I can't wait to see what gems you find in those boxes!

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  10. Wow! I've had amazing bargain book hunting luck lately but this blows my hauls away!!! You have attained Bargain Book Nirvana, my friend!

    My blog hosts Bargain Book Bonanza each week to showcase bargain books-- You are invited to link up this post. Please do, I want my bargain loving bloggy friends to see this-- they will freak plumb out!!!

    Cool blog too-- I read sci-fi so I'll be back to visit.

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  11. @jaimedodd: Thank you. Cataloguing is going to be a chore, but a fun chore.

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  12. @Sandy: Yes it is. Going through them I am finding all kinds of great stuff so far.

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  13. @Sarah: And that is just the collection of books I got last weekend. I have to meld them with the collection I already had. I don't think I will top 7,000 volumes in my overall collection, but I'll probably be close.

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  14. @ana: I didn't expect it either. I was just doing the normal thing that one does at sales like this and sorting through looking for the stuff I really wanted. And then they made me the incredible offer. I just could not pass on it.

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  15. @ParaJunkee: So far I'm finding a modest amount of duplicates. Maybe I should put those on ebay or Amazon or something.

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  16. @Kayleigh: There's a website I use that sends me alerts when there are book sales in my area, mostly for library and church books sales. That way I never miss one because I didn't know when and where it was going to be. It is U.S.-specific but there may be something similar for Australia.

    Although I often end up scooping up a lot of books at sales like this, if it turns out that I already have them (which happens despite my best efforts to avoid rebuying books I already own) I set them back into the wild, so you might get a crack at them in the future.

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  17. OMG! I love it! Lucky you! What you don't want, you can donate back for next year's sale!

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  18. @Julia: I might do that, but I got the distinct impression when I took the books off their hands that they didn't want them back, ever. They were saying things like "now we'll never have to carry these to the storage area again!"

    I'm sure the duplicates will be released back into the wide world, but I'm thinking it won't be via the Purcellville Library Book Sale.

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  19. Yeah, I bet if they saw you coming back with a box of books they would lock the door! heehee

    Thanks for linking to BBB! There are usually 2-5 regulars weekly so a small party but we have fun. Hope they link up this week so they can see this bodacious haul of yours.

    Oh yes, Sarah steered me towards your blog. Thanks, Sarah!

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  20. +JMJ+

    Hi! I'm here from the Bargain Book Bonanza link up and would like to congratulate you on your amazing haul! =D

    Yes, the project of cataloging them will definitely slow down your reading and posting rate, but it's all part of the romance of books--which is what book blogging is all about, aye? =)

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  21. WOW! Here from Baja Greenawalt! FANTASTIC! Very impressive, VERY brag-worthy! What a project!

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  22. ...wow.

    Cataloging that sounds like the most fun chore ever. Just the annoying things like taking off the stickers and finding doubles... awesome.

    Enjoy!

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  23. @Leslie: It has been a lot of work, but I'm making progress. I'll probably post a follow-up status update this weekend. With pictures.

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  24. @Biblibio: I've gotten the cleaning and sorting part of the job done, and I've gotten them into my quick database. I need to put them in the comprehensive one now. That will take a while.

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