BOOK NIRVANA: The Library’s Community Room will once again be the place to go for book lovers when the Friends of the Princeton Public Library’s annual event opens with a $10 Preview Sale Friday, October 17, from 10 a.m. to noon. Starting at noon, admission to the event is free for the remainder of the sale. Hours are noon-8:30 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturday and 1 to 5:30 p.m. Sunday.

The 2014 Friends of the Princeton Public Library Book Sale, which will take place October 17-19 in the library’s Community Room and in a tent on Hinds Plaza, features a substantial donation from the collection of John Wilmerding, former senior curator at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and professor emeritus of American Art at Princeton University. Included in this collection are books inscribed to Mr. Wilmerding by photographer Walker Evans as well as other renowned artists and art scholars.

The event features nearly 10,000 books for all ages on a wide variety of topics. Most books are priced between $1 and $3, with art books and special selections priced higher. The sale opens with a preview on Friday, October 17, from 10 a.m. to noon. A ticket for the preview sale is $10, but is free for Friends of the Library. Numbered tickets will be available at the door starting at 8 a.m. Customers enter the sale in numerical order. This year, barcode scanners will be permitted at the tables, but collecting books to scan will not be allowed.

Starting at noon, admission to the book sale is free for the remainder of the sale. Hours are noon-8:30 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturday and 1 to 5:30 p.m. Sunday.

On Sunday, books will be sold at half price in the Community Room and in the tent on Hinds Plaza. From 3 to 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, a Bag Sale will be held in the tent where a standard grocery bag can be filled with books for $5. Bags will be supplied at the sale.

In addition to the Wilmerding donation, the sale includes a large number of art, history, and political science books, and good selections in classics and literature, fiction, children’s and numerous other categories. Buyers will also find many old and unusual books, books in a variety of foreign languages for both adults and children, sheet music, CDs, DVDs (including many popular series), and audiobooks.

Other special items at this year’s sale include: a trove of gardening books donated by a local garden designer; a small collection of inscribed books by Ashley Montagu related to his work, The Elephant Man: A Study in Human Dignity, which inspired the movie and the Tony Award-winning play; books signed or inscribed by Eugene O’Neill, John Dos Passos, Edith Sitwell, Ted Hughes, Leonard Baskin, and Abbie Hoffman; a rare early volume by Patti Smith; the 3rd edition of Thomas Chatterton’s Rowley poems from 1778 in the original boards; fine volumes by collectible illustrators include Kay Nielsen’s The Twelve Dancing Princesses. J.D. Salinger’s Franny and Zooey is one of a number of modern first editions being offered.

For more information, contact Abby McCall, Friends Administrator, (609) 924-9529 ext. 280, or friends@princetonlibrary.org.

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