Case Western Reserve University’s annual Association for Continuing Education free and public book sale—where there will be more than 70,000 books and other donated items for sale—is Saturday, May 31, through Tuesday, June 3, in Adelbert Gym.
Sale hours are noon to 5 p.m. Saturday, Sunday (coupon day) and Monday (reduced price day), and 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Tuesday ($5-a-box day).
Buyers can get an early start Saturday with a $20 admission to a preview sale from 10 a.m. to noon.
The sale is divided into departments to guide browsers to their favorite topics in areas such as art, literature, fiction, home and leisure and much more.
A new “Multi-Media/Entertainment” department will offer vinyl records, CDs, DVDs, sheet music, books about Hollywood and the performing arts, advertising and historical ephemera of brochures and other printed paper materials. The ephemera section will offer rare handmade printed materials from the early 1900s’ Arts and Crafts movement.
Also donated this year were teaching materials that include a box of Beanie Babies that can be used for classroom rewards.
Here is a sample of what’s available:
- History: For readers of military history or the old Wild West, offerings include books about cowboys, Native American tribes, Indian wars and more.
- Home and Leisure: The cook in the house can find a new recipe among the 50 cartons of cookbooks.
- Fiction: Selected standout offerings include a signed first edition of Richard Adams’ Watership Down, unique edition of Toni Morrison’s Sula to Shirley Jackson’s acclaimed thriller Haunting of Hill House. There is also a large collection of literature donated this year.
- Science: It’ll be a birder’s delight with a special donation of books on birds of the world.
- Art: Scrapbook artists have plenty of choices of blank books to fill with memories. Along with the books are scrapbook materials like papers, borders and more. The department also features a range of American, European and Asian art books at low prices.
- Children’s: Caldecott and Newberry award books, Nancy Drew and Hardy Boy mysteries, illustrated European children’s books in English and more are available for young readers.
A special 8,000-book donation from an antiquarian bookstore and other large donations from private libraries, corporations and estate collections have enriched this year’s book offerings, organizers said.
The average book prices are from $1 to $5, with discounts on sale days. Rare books, once sold in the sale’s auction, now are housed in individual departments, priced for $20 to $200.
For information about the book sale, call the Laura and Alvin Siegal Lifelong Learning Program office at 216.368.2090 or visit acesite.org/book-sale/.