Half-Price Sunday!

Happy customers at the Fall Book Sale!

Our Fall 2016 book sale is wrapping up today, but we still have plenty of terrific bargains waiting for you.

To make sure as much as possible ends up in good homes, all items are half-price on Sunday!

The book sale (but not library services) will open at noon and closes promptly at 5 pm on October 2.

Hope to see you there!

Important Book Sale Information

Welcome! The doors will open on Thursday, September 29 at 3pm sharp, and we hope you'll have a wonderful time browsing and finding some treasures! Before you come, please review the following book sale policies:

Location

George Mason Regional Library, 7001 Little River Turnpike, Annandale

Book Sale Hours

Thursday, Sept. 29, 3 pm – 9 pm
Friday, Sept. 30, 10 am – 6 pm
Saturday, Oct. 1, 10 am – 5 pm
Sunday, Oct. 2, Noon – 5 pm (half price day; no library services until 1pm)

• The book sale ends each day promptly at the announced closing time. 
• Please be in line to pay for credit card purchases at least 15 minutes before the end of the sale day, since the library wireless network (which we use to process payments) shuts down promptly at closing.  We may announce an earlier deadline for getting into the credit card purchase line if the checkout line is lengthy.

Parking

• Park only in marked parking spaces. 
• If you park along Hillbrook, you're likely to get a ticket. 
• Please use the nearby shopping centers for overflow parking.

Payment

• We accept cash, check, or credit/debit cards. 
• Credit and debit card purchases may not be available at all cashier stations

Return Policies

• All sales are final and as is. 
• Be sure to check all cases before purchase. When we placed the items on the sale table, all CDs and DVDs were in their containers.
• We haven't viewed the DVDs, nor listened to the recorded books or CDs.

 Bins and boxes and piles

• No large bins or wheeled bins of any size going down the sale aisles or stored at the end of the aisles.
• You may carry one copier paper box or banker's box with you in the sales area.
• We will have designated areas for you to leave your boxes, marked with your name, while you continue to shop.
• At busy times, we may limit how long you may leave your boxes or containers and how many containers you may store in the designated areas.

Access

• No  strollers or solid-frame backpack child carriers are permitted in the sales area; they must be left in a designated area.
• Wheel chairs are always welcome.

Finding Areas of Interest

• Maps and volunteers are available to help you find what you're interested in.
• While many locations are the same from year to year, some categories have been moved.
• Look under the tables for overflow boxes.

Fourth English edition of Don Quixote, 250 years old

250-year old English 
edition of Don Quixote

This fall we are offering a 4-volume set of The Life & Exploits of the Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote de la Mancha, by Miguel Cervantes de Saavedra, translated by Charles Jarvis and published in 1766.

This is the 4th edition of "the Jarvis translation." The name is an immortalized misspelling; the translator was Charles Jervas, an early 18th century Irish portrait painter and translator. His 1742 translation of Don Quixote  was the definitive and most popular English translation through about 1885, and continues to be reprinted to this day.

Jervas is credited with was first to provide an preface to the novel. Being the fourth edition of his translation, the set we are offering at the fall sale includes this original preface, a supplement to the preface, and a life of the author.

An interesting side note: the first publisher listed, J. and R. Tonson in Strand, refers to booksellers and publishers Jacob and Richard Tonson. Jacob Tonson is notable for first publishing works by Milton and Dryden, and for the little coup of securing a copyright on the plays of William Shakespeare by buying up the rights from the heirs of the publisher of the Fourth Folio. Tonson also established the famous Kit-Cat Club. Not to be confused with the infamous Berlin nightclub, Tonson's circle of literary and political luminaries was committed to promoting the Whigs' principles -- and drinking toasts to the reigning beauties of the day. 

This wonderful set is bound in black quarter morocco with marbled boards, and gilt ornamentation on corners and spine. It is on display in the lobby and will go on sale on Sept. 29 at 3pm for $400.

Fall Sale Preview: Rare Early Edition of Brontë Masterpiece

Rare, early edition of Brontë's Villette, in beautiful condition.

In this fall's sale we are thrilled to feature a rare, three-volume set of Villette, published in 1853 under the name Currer Bell—better known to the world as Charlotte Brontë.

Our experienced rare books specialist is strongly inclined to believe it's a first edition, based on following observations:

1. The publication date on the title page is the same year that the novel was released.  
2. It is in three volumes, which consistent with the fact that the first edition (subsequent editions were published in one or two volumes).  
3. The title page information, layout, and typography appear consistent with those of other first editions posted by several rare book dealers and Wikipedia. (See photos.)

Unlike more modern books, the bindings offer no clues to the edition. In the past, novels were usually published in plain boards, and book-lovers would take their books to a private bookbinder if they wanted something more attractive. Such was the case for the edition we are offering at the fall sale: all three volumes have lovely bindings of quarter-morocco leather over marbled boards, with beautiful gilt embossed titles and ornamentation on the spines.

The novel itself is notable, too. Considered the most autographical of Brontë's novels, it tells of a young woman who moves to Brussels to teach at a girl's school and wrestles with her unrequited love for a married professor. Many Brontë devotees consider it an unrecognized masterpiece.  George Eliot, for example, wrote "Villette is a still more wonderful book than Jane Eyre. There is something almost preternatural in its power."

In an impassioned 2014 article, "Why Villette is better than Jane Eyre," author Lucy Hughes-Hallett writes "A funny, penetratingly observant realist novel, Villette is a visionary and fantastic depiction of a sequence of extreme emotional states."

You can view this gem in the lobby display case. It goes on sale on Sept. 29 at 3pm for $500.

Fall Sale Highlights: Special Children's Books Now on Display

Delightful children's books are now on display!

Special selections from the children's books available for the Fall 2016 Book Sale are now on display

They will go on sale starting at 3 pm on Thursday, September 29. Below is a list of titles and prices for a selection of lovely children's books. Not all are on display -- please ask at the sale to see them. The information here may be revised or updated, and items in the case are subject to change.

at George Mason Library in the glass case on the right side of the lobby as you enter.

 

First Editions

Selection in the 2016 Fall Sale display case.

A Treasury of Illustrated Children’s Books ― $15
Leonard de Vries   
Abbeville Press, 1989
1st edition

Dinosaurs ― $10
Sabuda and Reinhart   
Candlewick Press, 2005
Pop-up, 1st edition

The Magic Butterfly ― $10
George Obligado
Golden Press, 1963
1st edition

MOI ― $10
Marie Chardin, Bess Bethell Illus.   
Mae Carden, 1936
1st edition, in French

There is a Dragon in my Bed ― $15
Sesyle Joslin   
Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1961   
1st edition

Beloved Classics

Endpapers, The Patchwork Girl of Oz.

The Patchwork Girl of Oz ― $50L. Frank Baum, John R. Neill illus.   
Reilly & Britton, 1913
Beautiful endpapers

The Magic of Oz ― $8
L. Frank Baum, John R. Neill illus.   
Reilly & Lee, Later printing of 1919 edition

Robin Hood ― $10
Louis Rhead, Author and illustrator
Harper & Brothers, 1912

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court ― $10
Mark Twain
Harper & Bros, 1917

McElligot’s Pool ― $20
Dr. Seuss   
Random House, 1947
Unpaginated

Pop Up and Novelty Books

Pop-up spread from Leonardo Da Vinci.

Leonardo Da Vinci ― $10  Provensen
Viking, 1984
Pop-up

A Walk in Monet’s Garden ― $10
Francesca Crespi   
Bulfinch Press, 1965
Pop-up diorama

Merry Christmas ― $4
Music Box Diorama in the shape of a book

Bible Stories from the Old Testament ― $10
Christos Kondeatis
Simon & Schuster, 1993
Pop-up

Sailing Ships ― $10
Van der Meer & McGowan
Viking, 1984
Pop-up

The Pop-up Action Circus Book ― $10
Tim & Greg Hildebrandt   
Questor Ed., undated

Winter in White ― $10
Robert Sabuda
Little Simon, 2007
Mini pop-up, 1st edition

Vintage Treasures

Uncle Wiggily's Travels.

Book Trails for Baby Feet, vol. 1 ― $10
Child Development
Child Development Inc., 1946

Uncle Wiggily’s Travels ― $10
Howard R. Garis   
Platt & Munk, 1939

The Funny Bunny Factory ― $10
Adam Green
Grosset & Dunlap, 1950

Champions of the Industry; Achievements in the Future ― $10
Mauguil   
Chaulde Laurent, 1969



   

Wonderful Illustrations

Old French Fairy Tales ― $15
Comtesse De Segur   
Hampton Pub., 1920
Note: Missing 1 illustration

d’Aulaires’ Trolls ― $10
by ingri & edgar d'aulaire
Doubleday, 1972

From Mother Goose to Dr. Seuss: Book Covers 1860-1960 ― $8
Harold Darling
Chronicle Books, 1999

Stories from Around the World

The Adventures of Remi ― $10
Hector Malot, Mead Schaeffer (Illus.), Philip Schuyler Allen (Trans.)
Rand McNally, 1927

Folk Tales from the Soviet Union: The Caucasus ― $8
Raduga Publishers, 1987

Folk Tales from the Soviet Union, Ukraine, Byelorussia, Moldavia ― $8
Raduga Publishers, 1986

Fall 2016 Sale Preview: Rare, Fine, and Unusual Books on Display

A portion of the books on display for the Fall Book Sale.

Rare books, art books, and other collectibles are on display in the lower half of the right glass case in the George Mason Regional Library lobby. These items will go on sale starting at 3 pm on September 29.

Below is a list of titles and prices. We reserve the right to correct any mistakes in the prices or descriptions published here. Books may be removed or added without updating the list.

Fine Antiquarian Books

  

Fourth edition, Don Quixote, 1766.

Villette, 3 Volumes ― $500
Currer Bell (Charlotte Bronte)
Smith, Elder & Co., 1853
 (More details available here)


Don Quixote de la Mancha, 4 Volumes ― $400
Miguel Cervantes de Saavedra,
Translated by Charles Jarvis
J. and R. Tonson    1766
4th Edition

The Pilgrim’s Progress (Elstow Edition) ― $50
John Bunyan
John Walker and Co.     1881

Travels in Alaska ― $75
John Muir  
Houghton Mifflin, 1915



Song of Hiawatha ― $30
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Frederic Remington, illustrator
Houghton, Mifflin, 1890

Signed by the Author

Abundant Living ― $50
E. Stanley Jones  
Abingdon Press, 1942
Autographed

Singerie Songerie, a Masque on the Subject of Lyric Mode ― $45
Eugene Walter, Illustrations by ZEV
Willoughby Inst., 1958 Willoughby Inst., 1958
Numbered, Signed by Author and Illustrator

The Fall of America ― $30
Allen Ginsberg  
Autographed

El Arte Y Los Toros ― $20
Fernando Berckemeyer y Pazos  
Museo Taurino de Arte de Lima, 1966
Autographed

Limited Editions

Boxed set of Interpretacion del Codice Selden,  with facsimile of complete codex.

Interpretacion del Codice Selden, 3135(A.2) ― $400
Alfonso Caso
Sociedad Mexicana de Antropologia
Mexico, 1964
 

The History of Liddesdale, Eskdale, Ewesdale, Wauchopedale and the 
Debateable Land ― $150

Robert Bruce Armstrong  
David Douglas, 1883
No. 33 of 105 copies 

The Return of the Native ― $75
Thomas Hardy, Clare Leighton, woodcuts
Macmillan & Co., 1929
Limited edition

History

The Sinking of the Titanic, 1912.

The Sinking of the Titanic and Great Sea Disasters ― $40
Logan Marshall, Editor  
L.T. Myers, 1912

Siberia and the Exile System, 2 volumes ― $35
George Kennan  
The Century Company, 1891

Metrical Chronicle of Scotland, Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain and Ireland during the Middle Ages, 3 vols. ― $45
William B. Turnbull, ed.
Longman, Brown, Green, 1858

The Russo-Turkish War:  Including an Account of the Rise and Decline of the Ottoman Power, and the History of the Eastern Question ― $30
Captain H.M. Hozier, Ed.
 Mackenzie, London

African Game Trails, by Theodore Roosevelt.

African Game Trails ― $45
Theodore Roosevelt
Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1910
 
Rank and File: True Stories of the Great War ― $40
Theodore Roosevelt, Illustrated by Captain John W. Thomason, Jr.
Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1928

 

 

 

 Eastern Art

Between Heaven and Earth: Secular and Divine Figural Images in Chinese Paintings and Objects ― $17.50
Moss, 1988

Crow Collection of Asian Art ― $25
Robert R. Belinger, Editor
Trammell & Margaret Collection of Asian Art, 2008

Homage to Heaven, Homage to Earth: Chinese Treasures of the Royal Ontario Museum ― $30
Doris Dohrenwend, et. al.
University of Toronto Press, 1992

Freer Chinese Bronzes, 2 volumes ― $100
John Alexander Pope, et. al.
Smithsonian Institution: 1967, 1969

Middle Eastern Art

Nimrud and its Remains, 3 volumes ― $100
M.E.L. Mallowan
Collins, 1966

La Alhambra Palais.

La Alhambra Palais; Planos, alzados, secciones y detalles de la Alhambra ― $75 
Owen Jones and Jules Gourg
Ediciones Aka, 2001

Qur’rans of the Mamluks ― $70
David James
Alexandria Press, London, 1988

Art of the Ancient Near East ― $40
Pierre Amiet, John Shepley & Claude Choquet, Translators
Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1980

American and European Art

Rembrandt, Etchings ― $75
Introduction & Catalogue by Yevgeny Levitan, Andrew Baratt, Translator
Aurora Art , 1973

Rembrandt, Etchings and Drawings ― $25
Prof. V.V. Stech, translated by Alice Denesova
Paul Hamlyn, 1968

Painting Photography Film ― $35
Laszlo Moholy-Nagy
MIT Press, 1967

Parkett No. 8 ― $25
In Collaboration with Markus Raetz
Parkett-Zurich, 1986

Chefs-d’oeuvre du Musee National des Beaux-Arts d’Alger ― $25  
Mahammed-Orfali Dalila, 1999

Felix Valloton, Prints and Preparatory Drawings ― $35
Visual Arts Gallery, 1993

The Posters of Picasso ― $20
Joseph K. Foster
Grosset & Dunlap, 1964

Indian Art in Pipestone, George Catlin’s Portfolio in the British Museum ― $25
John C. Ewers, Ed.  
Smithsonian Inst., 1979

Music

Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, 4 vols. ― $50
Sir Walter Scott  
Adam and Charles Black

Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, 1787, Faksimile ― $40
W.A. Mozart  
Barenreiter Kassel, 1955

The Sacred Oratorios, 1799 ― 40
George F. Handel
T. Hepinstall

Fall Sale Preview: Attention Stephanie Plum Fans!

Featured in the fall sale: nine autographed novels by Janet Evanovich!

For readers who love the best-selling mystery series featuring the gutsy, Jersey-loving bounty hunter Stephanie Plum, we have a special treat: the first nine novels, and every single one of them has author Janet Evanovich's signature! Books one through seven feature the autograph on a bookplate-style sticker on the half-flyleaf, whereas books eight and nine have a dedication from the author (see photo for examples).

Update: These books are priced at $8 and will be located in the Rare Books section of the book sale. 

Children's Books Needed Fall Book Sale!

Children's books sell out faster than any other category at every George Mason Friends book sale! At the start of the sale, the special children's book room is full to overflowing, but by the last day of the sale our young readers are disappointed to find that nearly everything has been sold!

Children's books sell out fast.
Please donate and help us keep our shelves full!

We want all the kids who comes to our sale to leave with good-quality, age-appropriate books that they can't wait to get home and dig into!

That is why we are sending out a special appeal for children's books as the fall book sale date approaches. Bring in your gently-used children's books as soon as possible so we can get them priced and ready to sell.

Please donate soon and help us keep the shelves full in the children's book sale room full right through the sale!