The Kitchen Madonna by Rumer Godden. For years I periodically borrowed it from the large central county library,(not my cozy small town library) but apparently I was the only one, because they deaccessioned it without letting me know...you'd think, wouldn't you, that if only one person has been taking a book out over and over for years, they might mention and offer it for sale to said person before sending it who knows where! After years, I acquired a copy for free from a kindly swapper on paperbackswap.

Well, there's been a few books that were, I think, out of print but I found them over the years.

There was Colin Wilson's Anatomy of Murder (out of print) and I found that in a small, dusty, and VERY disorganized used bookstore here. Luckily, they had a computer record of the book and they dug it out from the back.

I was also looking for Richard Cavendish's The Black Arts. I found a hardcover copy a few years ago in another used bookstore. Then, a year or so afterwards, they republished the darned book as The Magical Arts and I could find it at every Chapters bookstore! (Sigh....)

Then, there were the Batman and Superman books by E. Nelson Bridwell. (Batman From the Thirties to the Seventies and Superman From the Thirties to the Seventies) I had to go to eBay to find those books -- apparently they've been out of print since the early 70s! I remember reading them from my school library when I was in grade school.

Oh, and let's not forget the 3 volume Nixon bio by Stephen Ambrose. I found volumes 1 and 3 easily enough on eBay for cheap but vol 2 was apparently VERY hard to find. I think I had to search through Abebooks or some other website to get a copy. And, let me tell you, it was NOT cheap. I think it was more expensive than when it originally was sold new!

And have I read the three volumes yet? Nope. It's gathering dust on my TBR pile next to the bed. (Hmmmm..... must speak to cleaning lady about dusting that pile!)

Wait, there IS another book that I haven't found! It's another Colin Wilson book : Origins of the Sexual Impulse. It's now apparently available for the Kindle but prior to that, the latest edition is from the late 70s!

Siobahn,

You got a better bargain than me. I picked up a copy of A Suitable Boy about two years ago for a dollar. It is an engaging story with many interesting characters, but way too long. The problem with reading it over a long period is that it's hard to keep track of all the characters, so make notes.

I'm on the lookout for Caravan of Dreams by Idries Shah. I could get it online, but I'd rather have something to hunt for at the book sales.

After the title cropped up here in a discussion a number of years ago, I spent over a year hunting down a copy of Karen Armstrong's The Gospel According to Woman. I think I must have found it on eBay, I can't remember. I do recall it wasn't a bargain, but was at a price I considered fair at the time.

I also had a run of luck at a library book sale when I snapped up all the sequels to Diary of a Provincial Lady for a dollar each, and they were hard to find at the time.

Our library has been under construction for the past two years and is only now starting to pull together items for another book sale. I'm not looking for anything in particular at the moment, but I am really looking forward to the sale and the fun of poking through all those lovely books.

I recently felt a strong urge to visit a charity shop where I often get good book bargains. I usually try to go only twice a month, but two days after my last visit I knew I had to go there again, and when I did I came across the hardcover edition of The Private World of Georgette Heyer by Jane Aiken Hodge. It had been on my wishlist for some time, and while it is available in paperback, a book like that is something I want to own in hard covers.

It wasn't the first time I have followed a hunch like that and discovered something special. Once it was an old cookbook, and another time it was a dozen Ngaio Marsh detective novels, most of which were out of print at the time.

Years ago in a bookstore on Michigan Ave in Chicago, that sold only remainders (it is not there any longer), I saw The Solitary Summer by Elizabeth von Armin. For some unfathomable reason I didn't buy it (probably was in a hurry). Then spent the next four years looking for it in used bookshops. Finally found it in the Rag & Bone bookshop in Minneapolis.

Also found in Minneapolis an out-of-print British edition of Birds, Beasts and Relatives, the sequel to My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell, which I had been searching for years.

Sadly, these old used bookshops are gradually disappearing. The Internet may have rendered them obsolete, but it cannot replace their charm.

Mmm, my post disappeared, I'll try again...

Actually, those dusty, hot, disorganized bookstores (often with cranky owners) are not what I look for anymore. They were charming for me at one time, but Im at the age where I want to be able find what I am looking for. I do support indie stores, but the ones I'll support first have ac and labeled shelves.

As for finding treasures, sites on the net like Bookfinder are god sends when looking for oop or rare books. And I don't have to use gas driving around to find them.

That being said, I have found my share of treasures at sales. One was called The Far Pavillions Picture Book. Its a collection of pieces put together by MM Kaye of pictures of India which go along with the text of the book. Many of these pictures were done by her mother when she was living there at the time. Since the novel is one of my all time favorites, this was quite a find, esp because it was signed by the author, and because it was amazingly cheap!

Here is a link that might be useful: Far Pavillions Picture Book

Oh, I adore those old, dusty bookshops that are fast disappearing from the American scene! I even visited one in Paris, really a jumble of tumble down shelves in an ancient building in an ancient street, filled with eccentric persons. (It was called "The Foul Rag & Bone Shop of the Heart.")

Charlottesville, VA used to have numerous old indie bookshops where you could browse for hours amidst the dust and often chaos. I was thrilled to find once a biography of one of my favorite authors: Alain Fournier, with photos.

Another time, while on a trip to Cooperstown, NY, we wandered into a combo antiquarian books and antique shop. I found and bought a slew of favorite older dog books that I had loved as a child. And I think we bought an antique oak chest there, as well....

cindydavid, that's part of the allure of the sales and old book shops - to find things you didn't even know you were looking for.

Oh, I know - and don't misunderstand, When I am traveling I track down those very stores in what ever city or town I am in. I just don't find them 'charming' anymore, I prefer to support indie stores that have some creature comforts, and suspect those will be the ones that will remain even with the net.

Book sales are a totally different ballgame; I go to those whenever I see them - yard sales, library sales, sales from schools and churches - and love them.

We used to have a used book sale every 2 or so weeks, got some great classics, mostly older books that I have read in the past.

HUGE score today at the library book sale! An omnibus of the McAuslan stories by George Macdonald Fraser. Not only have I wanted this book for ages, I have twice ordered it from online booksellers only to be told that it is not, in fact, in stock. Prices for this work cover a wide range, sometimes over a hundred dollars! (That's a lot, even though the dollar ain't what it used to be.) But for fifty cents, the edition including The General Danced at Dawn, McAuslan in the Rough, and The Sheik and the Dustbin is now mine. Woo-hoo!

I can't go past a table of books - hardcover, softcover...makes no difference. I have to browse and see if anything beckons me. It doesn't have to be the recent bestseller or a known author...sometimes its the subject that will catch my eye. I frequent our local "thrift" shops, used book stores, garage sales, library sales....have the word "book" anywhere and it like a beacon to me. My latest find - O.K. it might be a bit pricier than I'd pay normally was "The Bounty" by Caroline Alexander....it is keeping me entertained and I'm learning at the same time. I do read history but mostly biographical so this is a shade different from my norm. I have found many of my want to reads over the years after a search of a year or more. Most of my want to reads are the bestsellers where the library has waiting lists of 288 or some other number...sure I'll wait but I often find 8 months down the road I come across a reasonably priced copy and will pick it up.

Used book sales, dusty ol' book shops, library sales, they are my favorite haunts and past times. I end up sitting cross-legged on the floor all dusty, I look like a bum.. a book bum. However...mini rant to follow... while I love to browse and purchase books, I get so fed up with booksellers and antique dealers who are pushy and grabby and seem to have no manners what-so-ever. They are only interested in the bottom line - profit and condition - and I feel like elbowing them straight into the ol' textbooks section. Ah.. thank you for your patience. Rant over.

After years and years of searching for a copy of Workers in the Dawn by George Gissing, I do confess to popping onto an old book site, finding the one I wanted and punching in the golden ticket numbers.. that would be my charge card number. Presto. Twenty-four hours and about $100 later, I owned it. Turns out, it is a very hard to find book and finding it for under $100 is nearly unheard of. And if I find another copy for a quarter someplace? I'll buy it and give it to a fellow Gissing fan. I am all for the thrill of the hunt to find that special title, but after a while, I just want my hands on that book.

PAM