If the rare book room is the pearl, the rest of the material in the 5-day sale, which begins on July 12th and ends on the 16th, is the oyster and the show planners know that oysters go bad. So they run the sale this way. On day 1, Saturday, it costs $10 to get in between 9:00 and 11:59 am. At noon the price of admission drops to $5.00. From Sunday on admission is free. On Monday every book [outside of the rare book room] is reduced by 50% so a dollar book goes to .50 cents and so on. On Tuesday, you can ignore all previous pricing. Fill a good sized shopping bag to the tippy-top for $5.00. On Wednesday everything outside the rare book room that remains is free. This allows for every level of bargain hunter to find their personal nirvana.

At some point, by bargain and negotiation, the contents of the rare book room will also empty out. The "Friends of the Library" will raise approximately $80,000 and redistribute one eighth of a million printed items to new owners. The community will draw together. Reports of attendance and sales will propel both the crowd and the volunteers. Fatigue will give way to exhilaration as the fair draws to a conclusion and talk seamlessly slips into the future tense. "I think next year we should...."

And so an important community event will continue, more people will mark their calendars, as this sale ends first books for the 2009 fair will arrive, and as certain as the Hudson flows south, the sun rises in the east, and rain falls from the sky, come next July the book fair which this year is No. 33 will be 34.

Here is a link to the event online site:

www.chboothlibrary.org/booksale.php