Quote:
Originally Posted by Surfergirl
...My dad used to walk miles to get to his favourite used bookshop, and I think that's where I got my fascination with them - it's almost painful to walk past one without going in for a browse...
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It
is painful to walk by used bookstores without going in. A friend of mine and I were up in Prescott, AZ, for a Bluegrass (a music genre) Festival. Once we had heard all the bands once, we took our chairs back to my truck, got lunch, and checked out a few little shops we were in no danger of buying anything from before heading back to Tempe. I was trying to be a good girl by not going wild buying things (although I did get a couple of CDs at the Festival) so when we passed by a moldy looking old used book store (the best kind!; that's where the gems are to be found), I put my hands up like blinkers on a draft horse and muttered as we passed it something like, "Must not look. Must not go in. Must keep going." over and over until until we were safely past it. Once the unGodly heat we have been having cools off, I'm heading back up there (I'll drag that friend along, too, if she wants and has time; she also loves used book stores) and allow plenty of time to thoroughly explore that store.
I was working a Renaissance Festival in Palm Springs, CA, a few years ago and went up early the day before the Festival started to check in early (generally no line then) and scope out our stage. I also wanted to hit a museum there on the way in. After checking in and getting into my room, I waddled across the street to a used bookstore I happened to notice in a small strip mall there. Besides finding a few hymnals and novels, I stumbled on the first printing of a thick songbook of songs popular in the late 19th to early 20th centuries, copyrighted (get this) 1909! It was in fairly good condition (other than yellowed pages) and set me back only $10 USD! That is one book I will never cut apart prior to scanning, I don't care how long it will take me to scan one page at a time on a flat plate scanner!