Last Saturday morning after a nice breakfast at our favorite cafe, my wife and I went to the Malden Public Library book sale. I've been to library book sales in the past, but usually just bought any book I wanted, hardcover or paperback, good condition or bad. Not Saturday. My wife got a number of books herself, but I filled up two good sized bags with all books that I thought were good conditioned modern first editions. The past five days I've been beginning my catalogue of the books and trying to determine their value, if there is any. I think I found a number of great books and investigating their print number and edition has been more fun than I would have imagined. I'm learning a lot about the book collecting and book selling trade. Maybe tonight I'll get some more work done.

These are not all Very Fine condition, but they are Good to Fine. And they may not all be First Printings either, but a number of them are. That is why I have to continue my research. The adrenaline was rushing as I picked up all these great finds. May not be worth a fortune, but it was a great way to spend a Saturday morning. Here's my list...

Mark Helprin, A Soldier of the Great War, 1991 First US Edition
Robertson Davies, The Lyre of Orpheus, 1989 First US Edition
Anne Tyler, Breathing Lessons, 1988 First US Edition
Anne Tyler, The Accidental Tourist, 1985 First US Edition
Gore Vidal, Empire, 1987 First US Edition
Steven King, Misery, 1987 First US Edition
Steven King, Cujo, 1981 First US Edition (possible Book-of-the-Month Club)
Colleen McCullough, The Thorn Birds, 1977 First US Edition (but later printing)
Elmore Leonard, Freaky Deaky, 1988 First US Edition
Elmore Leonard, Get Shorty, 1990 First US Edition
John Fowles, The French Lieutenant's Woman, 1969 First US Edition
Margaret Atwood, Bodily Harm, 1982 First US Edition
Margaret Atwood, The Robber Bride, 1993 First Canadian Edition
Peter Ackroyd, Chatterton, 1988 First US Edition
James Carroll, Prince of Peace, 1984 First US Edition
Sebastian Faulks, Charlotte Gray, 1999 First US Edition
Alan Furst, Blood of Victory, 2002 First US Edition
Jeffrey Lent, In the Fall, 2000 First US Edition
John Le Carre, The Russia House, 1989 First US Edition
Don Delillo, Libra, 1988 First US Edition
Don Delillo, Underworld, 1997 First US Edition
Pat Barker, The Ghost Road, 1996 First US Edition
E.L. Doctorow, Billy Bathgate, 1989 First US Edition
E.L. Doctorow, The Waterworks, 1994 First US Edition
T. Coraghessan Boyle, World's End, 1987 First US Edition
Toni Morrison, Beloved, 1987 First US Edition (possible BOTM Club)
John Irving, The Hotel New Hampshire, 1981 First US Edition
Kazuo Ishiguro, When We Were Orphans, 2000 First US Edition
Kazuo Ishiguro, The Unconsoled, 1995 First US Edition
Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go, 2005 First US Edition
Diane Setterfield, The Thirteenth Tale, 2006 First US Edition
Philip Roth, Sabbath's Theater, 1995 First US Edition
Arturo Perez-Reverte, Queen of the South, 2004 First US Edition
Arturo Perez-Reverte, The Nautical Chart, 2001 First US Edition
Tom Clancy, The Hunt for Red October, 1984 First US Edition (undetermined printing)