$1,500 Book Turns Up In Donated Box At Booth Library

From time to time, cardboard boxes full of books show up at the doors of the C.H. Booth Library. They're anonymous donations from residents for the Friends of the Library's annual sale, a huge event that draws crowds of bibliophiles from miles away.

"No one knows where they come from," says Friends of the Library's Toni Earnshaw. "And no one knows if there's anything valuable in them, until we look."

This year, one book caught their eye: a striking copy of C.M. Forester's The African Queen, in hardcover, dust jacket intact. The story of a boater and a missionary traveling down-river through Africa is a classic of fiction, most famously adapted in the 1951 film starring Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn.

"It was just in a box," said rare book expert and Friend of the Library John Renjilian. "One of our sharp-eyed sorters spotted it and realized it had the potential of being a first edition."

Upon closer examination, he discovered it was -- a first American edition, at least. After a little research, he put the book's value at $1,500.

"Sometimes people don't know how valuable their books are," he said. "When I get books like this, I leave them for the last minute. I knew it was a standout."

Renjilian has nearly 50 years of experience judging rare books, and he's seen a lot in his time. This isn't the first rare book to turn up out of nowhere for the sale. Two years ago, he found a handwritten journal in a box of books. It turned out to be an account of a whaling voyage in the Pacific Ocean dating back to 1836. The book went to a delighted collector for $3,500. (You can read the collector's account here.)

The African Queen isn't the only rare treasure the library received this year. They've received valuable early editions of Oscar Wilde's Salome and Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon, plus first editions of several of L. Frank Baum's Wizard of Oz books and a signed copy of Barack Obama's The Audacity of Hope.

To check out these and the many other books on sale this year, make sure to visit the library's Annual Summer Book Sale, running from Saturday, July 13 to Wednesday, July 17. Happy browsing!