Recent Rarities

Every three months my county public library puts on a book sale.  These sales were instituted to raise money for the library, which relieves some of the tax burden of running an award-winning library.  The sales are designed to move inventory rather quickly, therefore the books--having been donated for the sales--are priced very reasonably.  The most recent sale was January 23-24.  That's where I found a first edition of Michael Connelly's first book.

                                           

The book is in great shape.  Apparently, when the book was first released, it also had a blue rebate coupon in a band wrapped around the dust jacket.  That band is the only thing missing from an otherwise near fine/near fine book.  A great find for me, or I should say, for my brother.  I'm going to be sending the book to him soon, as he is the collector of Michael Connelly.  The Black Echo is the only Connelly book he needs to complete his collection.  A generous bookseller from Oregon is sending me a signed bookplate to tip-in, free of charge!  That will be a nice surprise when my brother opens the book.

My wife's sister and her husband were in town this weekend.  On Saturday, the girls went out and did their thing while my brother-in-law and I headed to the flea market.  We were about to leave when we stopped into one last bookstall.  I was rumaging through the "fill a bag for a buck" bin when I came across a decent copy of My Name is Asher Lev, by Chaim Potok.

                                          

When I opened the book, I was pleasently surprised to find that it had been inscribed and dated by Chaim Potok.  He signed it a little less than a month before I was born.  It's not a first edition, but a fifth printing.  The book is not in the best shape.  And the signature itself is marred across the first name.  Still, it's not a bad find for less than a buck.