Comparative library sales: San Francisco v. Chicago

I moved from the San Francisco area to Chicago in August, and I'm
puzzled by Chicago's apparent lack of good book sales.

This weekend I attended the Co-op book sale, the first one advertised
since my arrival that seemed worth a trip. I'm glad I went because I
found some good books to read, but I didn't find enough sellable items
to make it worth going.

The Co-op is close to the University of Chicago, just as the Palo Alto
book sale is close to Stanford University, so I hoped to find a
similar selection of books, particularly technical books in
engineering, computer science, and law. I found almost none of that.
(I must say that the "Literature" section represented an academic
community well. But the science fiction section, which I combed for my
own consumption, was both small and disappointing.)

What is it with Chicago? Don't people here ever let go of quality
books, or are all the books going somewhere else?

My mail address is jsachs177 at earthlink dot net.

In article , Jonathan Sachs wrote:
I moved from the San Francisco area to Chicago in August, and I'm
puzzled by Chicago's apparent lack of good book sales.

What is it with Chicago? Don't people here ever let go of quality
books, or are all the books going somewhere else?

A couple sales with a good reputation are the Brandeis sale
held in June (Skokie I believe) and the Newberry Library sale
held in August.

--
Jonathan Grobe Books
Browse our inventory of thousands of used books at:
http://www.grobebooks.com

"Jonathan Sachs" wrote...

What is it with Chicago? Don't people here ever let go of quality
books, or are all the books going somewhere else?


To the Brandeis sale. Hold on until next June, and you're in for a hell of
a sale:

http://www.brandeisusedbooks.org/


--
Jon Meyers
[To reply,
lose your way.]

(Jonathan Grobe) wrote:

A couple sales with a good reputation are the Brandeis sale
held in June (Skokie I believe) and the Newberry Library sale
held in August.

I tried the Brandeis sale when I was visiting Chicago a couple of
years ago. It was huge (and the waiting line was blocks long), but it
also had very little in the areas that interest me. I really didn't
expect it to, since it attracts books from a general population.

I must have just missed the Newberry sale when I arrived. I can look
forward to checking out next year.

My mail address is jsachs177 at earthlink dot net.

My previous response was incomplete. It seems to me that apart from my
interest in particular areas that are poorly represented, Chicago
ought to be able to offer more than two good sales per year.

The San Francisco area has two major annual sales (the San Francisco
Public Library sale and the Oakland White Elephant Sale), a couple of
very good monthly sales, and a half dozen excellent quarterly sales.
All of the monthly and quarterly sales are comparatively small, but
they are large enough to include many good books, and the overall
quality is high. Yet I think the San Francisco area's total population
is considerably smaller. Either Chicago just doesn't support book
sales the way San Francisco does, or the "good stuff" is hidden
somewhere.

My mail address is jsachs177 at earthlink dot net.

Jonathan,
The Co-op sale is always skimpy on SF, except for some BCEs, and its
rare to find any worthwhile in even in the history/political science
sections much less the military history that I collect. Remember that
the U of Chicago is much smaller than most of its peers.

Another semi-decent show is the Printer's Row Book Fair in early June.
Good for local history and some hyper moderns. But not much in SF/F to
my regret.

Jason

On Mon, 13 Oct 2003 01:44:39 GMT, Jonathan Sachs
declared:

I moved from the San Francisco area to Chicago in August, and I'm
puzzled by Chicago's apparent lack of good book sales.

there are quite a few in the suburbs if you have a car. i don't, so
i've rarely hit any of them.

This weekend I attended the Co-op book sale, the first one advertised
since my arrival that seemed worth a trip. I'm glad I went because I
found some good books to read, but I didn't find enough sellable items
to make it worth going.

The Co-op is close to the University of Chicago, just as the Palo Alto
book sale is close to Stanford University, so I hoped to find a
similar selection of books, particularly technical books in
engineering, computer science, and law. I found almost none of that.
(I must say that the "Literature" section represented an academic
community well. But the science fiction section, which I combed for my
own consumption, was both small and disappointing.)

john, if you went at opening on saturday morn i was probably right
next to you at the sci-fi table, lol.

the most notable thing about the co-op sale is the lack of dealers
that attend. i rarely find anything notable, but usually much that i
can sell at a profit. one year i found a first of psycho, this year
the friend i rode with found a signed first of clan of the cave bear.

What is it with Chicago? Don't people here ever let go of quality
books, or are all the books going somewhere else?

this summer has been really, Really disappointing. brandeis had
significantly fewer books in the sci-fi section this year. last year
there were many boxes under the tables, this year there were none.
newbury was ok but is never spectacular, but i also don't shell out
the $50 to go to the members preview. maybe someone else here has and
can say if it's worth it.


robert

"I've been long, a long way from here
Put on a poncho, played for mosquitos,
And drank til I was thirsty again
We went searching through thrift store jungles
Found Geronimo's rifle, Marilyn's shampoo
And Benny Goodman's corset and pen"

On Mon, 13 Oct 2003 07:04:38 GMT, Jonathan Sachs
declared:

(Jonathan Grobe) wrote:

A couple sales with a good reputation are the Brandeis sale
held in June (Skokie I believe) and the Newberry Library sale
held in August.

I tried the Brandeis sale when I was visiting Chicago a couple of
years ago. It was huge (and the waiting line was blocks long), but it
also had very little in the areas that interest me. I really didn't
expect it to, since it attracts books from a general population.

I must have just missed the Newberry sale when I arrived. I can look
forward to checking out next year.

brandeis is far bigger than newbury and is in a high income area. i
wouldn't miss it, even though the dealer competition is stiff.


robert

"I've been long, a long way from here
Put on a poncho, played for mosquitos,
And drank til I was thirsty again
We went searching through thrift store jungles
Found Geronimo's rifle, Marilyn's shampoo
And Benny Goodman's corset and pen"

On Mon, 13 Oct 2003 17:36:24 GMT, Jason Long
declared:

Jonathan,
The Co-op sale is always skimpy on SF, except for some BCEs, and its
rare to find any worthwhile in even in the history/political science
sections much less the military history that I collect. Remember that
the U of Chicago is much smaller than most of its peers.

Another semi-decent show is the Printer's Row Book Fair in early June.
Good for local history and some hyper moderns. But not much in SF/F to
my regret.

from a resellers POV printers row is chancy, lots of books, lots of
dealers selling, but a decent chance of finding something really good
at the church tables. that's where i found a UK first of light
fantastic.


robert

"I've been long, a long way from here
Put on a poncho, played for mosquitos,
And drank til I was thirsty again
We went searching through thrift store jungles
Found Geronimo's rifle, Marilyn's shampoo
And Benny Goodman's corset and pen"

MindElec wrote:

from a resellers POV printers row is chancy, lots of books, lots of
dealers selling, but a decent chance of finding something really good
at the church tables. that's where i found a UK first of light
fantastic.

Thanks for telling me about that -- I never would have guessed that a
sale named Printers' Row had any sellers except dealers, so I never
would have gone.

there are quite a few in the suburbs if you have a car. i don't, so
i've rarely hit any of them.

I hit a few of those during the same visit as Brandeis, and found them
disappointing, although not complete washouts.

I'm going to try to get to the Lincolnshire sale this weekend. 25,000
books sounds considerable.

As far as I know, Chicago has nothing equivalent to the Oakland Art
Museum's White Elephant Sale. It is held in early March, with a paid
preview in early February and free admission through the month of
February to anyone who brings a significant donation. It fills a
warehouse which covers an entire city block with every imaginable type
of treasure and junk, including clothes, tools, luggage, cookware,
tableware, housewares, electronics, toys, office supplies,
photographica, jewelry, furniture,... and books.

The books are only about 10% of the sale, and even so offer more
quantity and quality than most pure book sales do. One year I found a
copy of Muriel Beadle's book about cats with a gift inscription from
the author to a local Nobel Prize winner.

My mail address is jsachs177 at earthlink dot net.