Over 90,000 books will be on sale during the 73rd annual Bryn Mawr-Wellesley Book Sale, which will take place March 24 through 28 at Princeton Day School on The Great Road, Princeton.
All proceeds will go towards providing scholarship aid to young women from central New Jersey who attend Bryn Mawr or Wellesley.
Treasures this year include early 19th-century editions of the Bible, a 1773 edition of Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary of the English Language, and a mid-19th century travel book relating the adventures of two young, itinerant female book peddlers.
There are also an unusually large number of fine children’s books, as well as many books in foreign languages.
According to book sale organizers, book dealers from all over the Northeast are attracted to this sale. One from Scholarly Books in Easton, Pa., praised the more than 60 categories of sorting, the reasonable prices, and the chance to find "something really exciting" like a book signed by Frank Lloyd Wright that he had found in 1999.
Special bargains are available on Saturday, March 27, Half-Price Day, and on Sunday, March 28, Box Day, when visitors should bring their own boxes. The first three boxes filled with books are only $5 each; four boxes and above are $6 each.
Many dealers and other book collectors arrive the night before the Preview Sale in campers, eagerly waiting for the doors to open. This year’s Preview begins at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, March 24. Numbered Preview tickets at $25 go on sale at the door from 9 a.m. that day. After the Preview ends at 2 p.m., admission is free for the duration of the sale.
Book sale hours are: March 24, from 2 to 9 p.m.; March 25 and 26, from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; March 27, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and March 28, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Payment is by cash or by check (photo I.D. required). Credit cards will not be accepted.
Throughout the year on Wednesday and Saturday mornings from 10 a.m. to noon, books can be donated at the sale’s warehouse behind 32 Vandeventer Ave. in Princeton.
For general information, map and photos, visit www.princetonol.com/groups/brynmawr.
