Do we have to leave? -- Part I

We walk by the main branch of the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library on Market Street in Charlottesville fairly often. It's on our way to or from a lot of places we go.

Recently, we'd been seeing signs posted on the building for the "Gordon Ave. Library Sale." I'd say our interest was piqued, but having only lived in Charlottesville for nine months, we had no sense of what the Gordon Ave. Library Sale was.

The sale kicked off on March 31, and is slated to run through April 8. Deborah's parents were in town for the first weekend of the sale, so we waited until today to find out what it was all about.

Ten minutes in, we never wanted to leave.

An entire basement of a library, at least four large rooms, filled with bookcases, piled with books, all for roughly the cost of a cup of coffee or less. It was too good to be true, yet it happens twice every year.

On this visit, we scouted the place out, learned what was what and where to find it, and learned that if we could keep ourselves from going overboard all week, our patience would be rewarded with half-price days on the final two days of the sale.

The most exciting find, for me, is one I am trying my best to hold out on until half-price weekend: A Mohawk Edition set of James Fenimore Cooper's novels (32-volume set), published by G.P. Putnam's Sons, circa 1896. Price on Wednesday, $50.

There were, however, two things about this set that gave me pause. First, it was missing the two (likely) most popular Cooper books, The Last of the Mohicans  and The Prairie. With two of the five "Leatherstocking Tales" missing, in addition to $50 feeling like too much on its own merit, it certainly felt like too much for an incomplete set. Second, the set said it had 31 volumes, which it did -- one volume was in there twice.

Choosing judgment over desire, I decided to wait it out, hoping that if no one had claimed them by the fifth day of the sale, that they would still be there three days later.

But that's not to say we left empty-handed. Aside from taking home a mountain of children's books for our daughter's burgeoning collection, we also rounded up various reference items of interest (Wildlife of North America, for example).

We're definitely going back.