The Bryn Mawr-Wellesley Book Sale is set to return to Princeton Day School for an amazing 84th year March 20 through 24.
For the first time in several years, the sale will begin on a Friday, with the bulk of the sale days falling on the weekend. Scheduling conflicts necessitated mostly midweek sale dates the past few years.
The book sale has an amazing history. According to the book sale website, in 1931, a group of Princeton-area Bryn Mawr College graduates looked to raise money for scholarships for new students by holding a used book sale. In 2000, with their numbers flagging, a local Wellesley alumnae group joined in the effort, and it’s been going strong ever since.
The book sale is immense, almost overwhelmingly so, with volumes filling the entire gymnasium and cafeteria at PDS during the school’s spring break. The committee estimates the total count of available books at 100,000.
Volunteers spend the whole year between sales receiving donations and sorting them into categories, so readers who only care for European history or social science are able to make a beeline for their desired section. Likewise fans of mysteries or literary fiction will see their favorites staked out across rows of tables.
Those who like to collect books from across the publishing spectrum, on the other hand, could easily spend the better part of an afternoon browsing.
I’ve been going to the sale since 2012, and I’ve never left without a impressive stack. I’m not a rare book hunter — though rare book hunters would have a ball at the sale — but I do like to build up my home library with reading copies. I was able to assemble a pretty substantial Evelyn Waugh collection from just one year. Last year, the recent Walter Isaacson biography of Steve Jobs was just sitting there, waiting for me to take it. I did.
Friday, March 20 is a Preview Day, requiring a $25 ticket to gain entry — dealers and resellers make up a substantial portion of the traffic that day. Tickets are available online. Meanwhile, Tuesday, March 24 will be box day, when bargain hunters will be able to walk out with a 16x12x12 box full of tomes for $10.
Processes and procedures for Preview Day and every other day, as well as hours of operation, are online at bmandwbooks.com. –Joe Emanski
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