The Early Bird IS the Bookworm

Being one of the first to walk through the Wilton Library’s doors Saturday at the start of the annual book sale is big business — literally. The sale is well-known amongst book dealers and others who make a living by reselling books.

Those jousting for an early entry start lining up outside the library at 2 or 3 a.m.  Once the sale organizers start collecting the $15.00 early-admission fee and dole out entry numbers, the pros get ready for the 7:00 a.m. opening dash to find the best deals. Dealers Sue and Frank O’Brien took their place in line at 3:30 a.m. and received numbers 18 and 19.

“We come down from Massachusetts. It’s really one of the better sales around,” Sue reported.

Most of the dealers know each other from the hundred or so sales they attend year-round at libraries, schools and churches. “It’s old home week for all of us, we do the circuit,” said Edgar, from Southbury (who, like many of the dealers, preferred to give Patch only his first name). “We all know each other, and most of us really know books. There are some smart people in this crowd.”

Many dealers are now armed with hi-tech tools of the trade, with most carrying digital scanners to read bar codes and wirelessly check prices. They make a judgment call in a few seconds as to whether the book's re-salability is high, and quickly move on to fill their bags and boxes with as many good deals as they can get.

Armed with maps of the sale tables, they plot strategy for which subjects and genres to hit first. Renee, who’s first in line, bee-lines for the children’s books, separately set up in the Brubeck room. “I’m a teacher, and want these for my classroom. I had to be the first on line.”

Stan, a mail carrier from Bethel, is more of a personal collector, and limits his buying-for-reselling purchases to just what he needs to help pay for his wife’s passion of traveling. “The rest is for me.” Stan calls the Wilton sale his favorite of the 40 or so he goes to each year. “It’s roomy, and everything is alphabetized. That makes a big difference.”

The sale is chaired by three volunteer organizers, Pat Gould, Janet Zimmerman and Lila Griswold, who have overseen the effort for the last 4 years. They credit the 35 volunteers who meet twice a week through the rest of the year to sort and organize the donated books, as well as the other volunteers who staff the sale days, with making the effort a success. Gould says it’s well organized — right up until the chaos starts.

“It’s a lot of coordination and getting everything in place, but once it’s set up, we just step back — and then it’s like the running of the bulls,” she laughs.

The dealers were impressed with the touches the library organizers offered, noting the early-morning coffee and doughnuts provided free were unusually thoughtful gestures. “Impressive, the map’s printed in color. Not like New Canaan’s sale,” joked one.

After 9:00 a.m. on the first day, admission is then free, and remains so through the end of the sale. The book sale continues through April 12.