The Times They Are A Change-ed

If I had to pick one topic that has generated the most feedback we have received at Recycled Reads over the past year, it would be the hours we are open – more precisely, the hours we are NOT open!

When our store first opened to the public in late February 2009, the hours of operation were set by a combination of factors: availability of volunteers, availability of Library personnel and accessibility to the store by our customers. To maximize each of these factors and still stay within our budget, our original operating hours were chosen to be Tuesday 10-4, Thursday 3-9, Saturday & Sunday 12-5. We believed at the time that these hours would allow us to keep our store clean, our shelves stocked and give our customers access at varying times to accommodate varying work schedules. In theory, everyone who wanted to visit our store would have at least one opportunity within these hours to shop during the week.

Unfortunately our selection process did not take into consideration one small detail: CONSISTENCY!

It turns out that we were only partially correct in our theory that varying times would appeal to a maximum number of people. While some shoppers did take advantage of our early Tuesday and late Thursday hours, many more people would show up at days and times when we were closed – especially on Fridays or late weekend afternoons. Sadly I believe we lost a few customers who would arrive on a Friday afternoon only to discover that we were closed that day to restock our shelves.

Well, those days are now officially OVER. As they say in politics, “the people have spoken” and we listened.

Starting this week (Thursday February 4th to be exact), our NEW HOURS are THURSDAY through SUNDAY, 12:00pm to 6:00pm!

We hope that these times will not only be easier for everyone to remember but will also fit the shopping schedules of more people than the old hours did. Since we are no longer skipping days during the week to stock the shelves, that means we will be restocking each day that we are open and thus be able to provide our customers with a more varied selection throughout the week. As an added bonus these new hours also mean that the store will be open an additional 2 hours each week!

The next time you visit our store, please take a moment to stop by the front desk and tell us what you think of these changes. We are in business to serve your needs, and we appreciate your feedback to let us know how we are doing.

New Collectibles
As we continue to highlight selected new additions to our Collectibles Cabinets, here are just a few of the many new additions that will be made available this week:

Walter Webb The Texas Rangers – Webb rode with the Rangers in the days when desperate men thought the border between Texas and Mexico was an open gate to bootleggers. He loved the harsh country through which the Rangers rode, and this history grew out of the stories Webb heard around Ranger campfires at night as the men drank coffee and swapped tales of their adventures. Originally published in 1965, this stated Second Edition printed in 1974 is identical with the first edition published in 1935 with the exception of the front matter from which the publishers eliminated two poems, adding the Foreword by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The text is printed from the plates of the 1935 First Edition and is illustrated with drawings by Lonnie Rees with cover painting by Texas artist Tom Lea.

Griffiths Vietnam Inc. (1971) – First published in 1971, Vietnam Inc. was crucial in changing public attitudes in the United States, turning the tide of public opinion and ultimately putting an end to the Vietnam War. Philip Jones Griffiths’ classic account of the war was the outcome of his three years covering the war as a Magnum photographer and is one of the most detailed surveys of any conflict. Showing the true horrors of the war as well as being a study of Vietnamese folk life, Griffiths creates a compelling argument against the dehumanizing power of technology and highlights the arrogance and hypocrisy of American imperialistic attitudes. Rare, and highly sought-after, Vietnam Inc. has become a classic of modern photojournalism.

Jackson Alaska – A ‘Second Edition’ of the 1880 book written by Sheldon Jackson, the missionary, statesman, explorer, and educator who has been called “the Alaskan Apostle”. The second edition has arguably been called the “best edition” since it includes 400 pages versus the 327 pages in the original, plus 146 illustrations compared to the 70 illustrations contained in the first edition. Note: this is a former library copy with typical stamps.

 

Dante’s Inferno (1985) – Tom Phillips’ epic production of 138 prints as illustrations to Dante Alighieri’s Inferno took seven years to make and was first published as a limited edition that has since become collectible and expensive. This second edition offers the complete text of Phillips’ own translation of Dante’s great masterpiece accompanied by the full set of illustrations. For this unstated First Edition, the artist provides detailed notes on the genesis of each picture and the nature of its relevance to his and Dante’s preoccupations.

Maxim Gorky Selected Works In Two Volumes (1949) – Among the portraits of Soviet heroes that used to hang in every Russian school and library, the one of Maxim Gorky was nearly always placed beside Lenin. Gorky was an icon of the Soviet cultural establishment, hailed as the first great Russian writer to emerge from the proletariat and as the founder of Socialist Realism. Gorky believed that a Russian artist should depict life in the Soviet Union not as it was but as it should be in the socialist utopia. This two-volume set with original unclipped dust jackets was published in English by the Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow.

What makes us different

As we rapidly approach our 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY and new customers visit the store every day, I thought it might be a good time to remind everyone why Recycled Reads is unique among all the great book stores in Austin.

We are part of the Austin Public Library – As you browse through our shelves you may notice that many of the books are marked and covered just like books you would find in the public library. That’s because they did come from the library!

When each of the Austin Public Library branches updates their materials in circulation as new books arrive, the books that they remove from circulation are sent to Recycled Reads for resale to the public. That’s one of the reasons we call ourselves Recycled Reads.

Your purchases help fund the Library – Did you know that every dollar you spend in Recycled Reads goes directly to the Austin Public Library? That’s right – we don’t make any profit on what we sell.

After paying for expenses, all of the money we make goes back to the Library to buy more books, fund more programs and enable public access to countless information resources. To make those dollars stretch even farther in this tough economy, a large part of the work in the store is done by unpaid volunteers.

What we don’t sell, we recycle – It is an unfortunate fact that some books just don’t sell regardless of how long they sit on the shelf or how low they are priced. It is also the case that some of the books we receive are too dated or too damaged to put on our shelves.

In earlier times these books would have been discarded into a landfill – which we now realize is definitely not a good thing for the environment. Today those books can still have a useful life through our partnership with Books Beyond Borders, a local non-profit organization that salvages discarded books to raise money for building schools for children in Central America through Project Schoolhouse. Those books that they cannot use are in turn recycled to create building insulation. This is the other reason why we are called Recycled Reads.

We have the lowest prices in town – We have thousands of books that are regularly priced at $2 for hard-cover, $1 for soft-cover and 50 cents for all children and young adult books (with 50% off these prices for specially-marked items).

There may be some shops that sell used books for less, but I’m not aware of any major book stores that do. If so, good for them! Part of our mission is to give used books a new lease on life, and we applaud anyone else who does the same.

New Collectibles
As we continue to highlight selected new additions to our Collectibles Cabinets, here are just a few of the many new additions that will be made available this week:

Wool Gathering by Patti Smith – Yes, that Patti Smith! The “Godmother of Punk” wrote more than songs, and this unusually small and scarce 1992 publication of her poetry is proof of her talents. The first page begins “I always imagined I would write a book, if only a small one, that would carry me away , into a realm that could not be measured nor even remembered”.

Crime Album Stories: Paris 1886-1902 – In a Paris antique shop, Eugenia Parry found an intriguing album of photographs documenting murders committed in the French capital between 1886-1902. Parry set out to investigate the stories behind these extremely graphic photos. Most photographs shown in this book are by Alphonse Bertillon, Chief of Judicial Identity of Paris Police and inventor of the so-called Bertillonage, an elaborate filing system for the identification of criminals which was subsequently adopted by most police forces in Europe and the USA. With varying success, Armand Cochefert, Chief of Criminal Investigation between 1894-1902, investigated most of the crimes these pictures relate to. Skillfully describing these two main characters as well as drawing on elaborate historical research into these murder cases, Parry tells twenty-five stories which go far beyond the description of crimes and motives. Using Paris as the backdrop, and combining historical evidence with fiction, this book combines texts and images to explore the ever-illusive question of why people commit capital crimes. This is a stated First Scalo Edition (2000).

Jurassic Park (Gift Edition) Autographed by Michael Crichton – One of the best-selling modern authors in the world, Michael Crichton utilized his knowledge of medical science to create imaginative works of science fiction, medical fiction and techno-thrillers. His 1990 science-fiction novel “Jurassic Park”, which tells a cautionary tale of scientists tinkering with dinosaur genetics to create an amusement park, was adapted into a blockbuster film in 1993 that won 3 Oscars and 19 other awards. This special Gift Edition, which was published in August 1993 and is covered with a printed acetate dust jacket, is autographed by the author on the first blank page.

The Night Nemesis: The Complete Adventures of the Moon Man (Volume 1) – Included in this anthology is a collection of the first nineteen novelettes of Frederick C. Davis’ “Moon Man” series that appeared in the pulp magazine Ten Detective Aces between June 1933 and December 1934. With his Robin Hood approach to crime fighting and his bizarre appearance, Davis’ Moon Man is one of the more unique vigilante heroes created during the
Depression era and is considered by many collectors to be among the finest pulp fiction series. Published in 1984 by Purple Prose Press and edited by Garyn G. Roberts & Gary Hoppenstand, this is a limited and numbered edition (#963 of 1000) which is signed by both editors.

Set of 5 Amana Society documents – The fascinating history of the Amana Society (previously known as “The Community of True Inspiration”) is retold from its inception through the 1930’s by Bertha M. H. Shambaugh in Amana That Was and Amana That Is. This 1932 hardcover publication by the State Historical Society of Iowa is inscribed and signed by the author. Also included with this set are:

• A 1930 booklet titled “A Brief History of the Amana Society or Community of True Inspiration (1714-1930)”
• A 1957 reprint of “Amana German” signed by author Carroll E. Reed
• Two vintage black-and-white photographs of the Amana Colony (undated)

Best In Show

What were you doing last weekend? If you are a book and paper memorabilia dealer or collector, chances are good that you were at the Texas Booksellers Association’s Austin Book, Paper and Photo Show which was held at the Norris Conference Center (formerly Northcross Mall) on January 16-17.

Over 50 dealers of collectible, antique and vintage printed materials from Texas and nearby states converged on Austin for a two-day exhibition of their wares. Each dealer was provided one or more tables to display their items, and attendees could spend hours browsing through various rooms filled with rare, unique and expensive merchandise. Fortunately for us, Mindy (the store manager) had known about this event for months and was able to reserve a table for Recycled Reads to display some of the more unique items from our ever-popular Collectibles Cabinets.

Saturday brought a whirlwind of activity, both at our table in the show and at the store. Our unique selection of vintage maps, children’s books, Texana and other memorabilia plus the extensive research provided by Marcia (keeper of the Collectibles Cabinet) insured a steady stream of buyers at our table on both days. In fact, business was so good that we had to make a run back to the store and fetch more items from our shelves!

In addition to our success at the show, a number of people were directed by Mindy to visit the store. Fortunately the store is just down Burnet Road from the conference center, so we gained quite a few new customers that weekend who came straight from the show.

All in all, it was a fun and very successful weekend for Recycled Reads. Thanks to all of the folks who came to the show, and we hope to see you at our store very soon.

New Collectibles
As we continue to highlight selected new additions to our Collectibles Cabinets, here are just a few of the many new additions that will be made available this week:

Great Books of the Western World (54 Volume Set) – What are the greatest books ever written? Thousands of American families in the 1950’s and 1960’s would answer that question by pointing to their bookshelves. Created at the University of Chicago and published by the Encyclopedia Britannica company in 1952, this complete 54 volume set of The Great Books is uniformly bound in faux leatherette with gilt ribbing and spine titles.

It’s Me O Lord: The Autobiography of Rockwell Kent – Although he was one of the great American modern artists of the early 20th century, Rockwell Kent is perhaps best known for his illustrations for the 1930 republication of Moby Dick. The popularity of Kent’s artwork is attributed to turning that obscure Melville novel into a modern literary classic. This rare 1979 second printing of Kent’s autobiography was published in Moscow to help Soviet students learn advanced English.

Stonewall’s “Foot Cavalryman” – An illustrated historic first-hand account of the Civil War experiences of Andrew Davidson Long, the last known member of Company A, First Virginia Regiment, Stonewall Brigade. Written by his son Walter E. Long, early leader of the Lower Colorado River Authority in Austin, this 1965 presumed First Edition is inscribed and dated by the author.

History of The Amana Society (1891) – Authentic 1891 First Edition of this historic monograph on the Amana Society (previously known as “The Community of True Inspiration”). At the time of its publication the Amana Colonies were one of the largest communal religious groups in America.

The Mind of the South – Recognized as a path-breaking work of scholarship and literary achievement of enormous insight for its investigation of the Southern class system and its pioneering assessment of the region’s legacies of racism, religiosity, and romanticism. Cash’s book defined the way in which millions of readers on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line would see the South for decades to come. This is an extremely rare First Edition inscribed by the author shortly before his mysterious death in Mexico City: “With memories of a pleasant evening, Cordially W.J. Cash”

Happiness Is A Warm Book

Old Man Winter jumped on Austin with two big feet this week. Folks in the North (i.e. Oklahoma) may be used to single-degree wind chill, but down here people make a run on the stores any time the weather drops below freezing.

Fortunately for us, Recycled Reads is one of the stores that people head to when the weather outside is frightful. Maybe it’s our friendly and relaxed atmosphere that people find attractive. Or maybe it’s the free WI-FI service that we provide throughout the store. Or maybe even the ridiculously low prices that we offer every day.

Personally, I think that most people who visit us just enjoy that warm feeling they get whenever they find a great book to read. Think about the last time you found that one special book you wanted. It could have been the conclusion of a series, or an out-of-print copy of a work from your favorite author. And sometimes the joy of discovery is almost as good as the book itself.

I was working in the store this past week when I happened to overhear a young lady telling her mother about all the cool books she had found in our Youth section. Glancing over I saw that she had a pile of about half-a-dozen hardback books stacked on the table in front of her. After a look at our price sheet followed by a quick calculation, she smiled and said “Wow, Mom! I can get all of these books for only $12!”.

At this point I smiled to myself and casually broke into the conversation. “Excuse me, but did you know that if all of those books are from our Youth section then they are priced at only 50-cents each? That means your 6 books will cost a total of $3″. Her eyes grew about two sizes larger as she exclaimed “THREE DOLLARS?? Mom! I LOVE this place!“.

Some people say you can’t buy happiness, but I disagree. We sold a lot that day for just three dollars.

New Collectibles
As we continue to highlight selected new additions to our Collectibles Cabinets, here are just a few of the many new additions that will be made available this week:

Tea Leaves Illustrated (1884) – Subtitled “Being A Collection of Letters and Documents Relating to the Shipment of TEA To The American Colonies in the Year 1773, By the East India Tea Company“, this is a fascinating vintage facsimile reproduction of a 1773 original manuscript from Sir Francis Drake. This unique volume is fully illustrated with steel-plate engravings, portraits, maps and copies of historical documents relating to the pre-Revolutionary American tea trade.

John Graves and the Making of Goodbye to a River (2000) – Subtitled “Selected Letters, 1957-1960″, this collection of notes taken during the author’s 1957 canoe trip down the Brazos River and subsequent publication of his memoir is a stated First Edition “limited First Printing of 3000″ which is also flat-signed by the author.

Printer At The Pass: The Work of CARL HERTZOG (1972) – This annotated bibliography of Texas’ premiere book designer was compiled by Al Lowman, creator of the Printing Arts Collection and Research Archive at the Texas A&M Library. This unusual piece of Texana was recently donated from the private collection of a literary scholar.

A White House Diary by Lady Bird Johnson (1970) – This First Edition, Second Printing copy of the personal memoirs of the former First Lady retains its original dust-jacket (slight tear at one corner). The cover page contains a bookplate which is signed by the author.

THE VANTAGE POINT: Perspectives of the Presidency 1963-1969 by Lyndon Baines Johnson (1971) – This stated First Edition copy the personal memoirs of the former President retains its original unclipped dust-jacket (slight wear along edge). The cover page contains an LBJ Bookplate which is signed by the author.

Resolve to Recycle Reads in 2010

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 2009 certainly was a whirlwind year for all of us at Recycled Reads. Since our grand opening on February 28th we have welcomed thousands of new customers and made many good friends along the way. As the year draws to a close, I thought it would be fitting to give a quick month-at-a-glance recap of our “Best Little Bookstore In Austin”:

• March – Out-the-door lines for our first Vinyl Blow-Out sale!
• April – Word began to get around about a funky new bookstore in town
• May – We all gave back to the troops during our Armed Forces Day book drive
• June – The return of our Vinyl Blow-Out sale brought “record” sales
• July – Our Thrills & Chills mystery sale helped shoppers beat the heat
• August – Sno-cones soothed during our Big Chill summer reading program
• September – More than vinyl at our expanded Media Extravaganza
• October – Spooky tricks and treats led to Dia De Los Muertos
• November – Rewarded our super fans with a Super Comics sale
• December – Ended with a bang as we held a wildly popular Vintage Children’s Book sale and our first $5 Holiday Gift sales

As you can see, we’ve had quite a busy year! So the obvious thing to ask now is… what’s new for 2010?

Our first big change of the new year will be apparent when you walk in the store on January 2nd (as we are closed New Years Day). Based on the many suggestions you have made over the past year, we are tweaking our floor plan to make your shopping experience even more enjoyable.

The biggest change you will notice is that we have merged all of our Mystery, Romance and Western sections into the general category of FICTION. This expanded category will take up all of the shelves along the rear wall of the store and most of the shelves along the South side. To make this area complete, we have moved the entire SCI-FI section into the first bank of shelves across from Vintage Books and have combined all of our Fiction paperbacks into the adjacent bank. All of our shoppers who are looking for a good FICTION book can now find it in one central location.

As a by-product of consolidating FICTION, we are pleased to have expanded several popular categories. BIOGRAPHY, ENTERTAINMENT and REFERENCE & TRANSPORTATION each gain additional shelf space to hold more of the books you want. We have also expanded AMERICAN HISTORY to include several adjacent categories (Native American and Western non-fiction) making two complete adjacent rows devoted to History. Our final adjustment moved LAW and TRUE CRIME to the bank of shelves across from the start of FICTION.

We hope you will join us this weekend as we kick off the New Year with our new look. And this is just the start – we can’t wait for the changes coming in February! So, make your New Year’s resolution early this year and resolve to Recycle Reads in 2010!

New Collectibles
As we continue to highlight selected new additions to our Collectibles Cabinets, here are just a few of the many new additions that will be made available this week:

Lot of 60 Vintage Sheet Music (1910’s-1930’s) – From the early 1900’s through the Depression, sheet music gave the buyer a visual delight as well as a musical one. This is an eclectic assortment of over 60 sets of sheet music, approximately half classical and half popular, all of which were published from the 1910’s through the 1930’s. Many of these have covers which are illustrated in color, some by well-known illustrators of the time including Helen Van Doorn Morgan. Although some of the sets are bound and therefore known to be complete, most are loose-leaf and badly worn on the edges due to age.

McCall’s Magazine (May 1931) – In the early 20th century McCall’s was considered to be the premiere magazine for American women. In addition to providing articles on current women’s fashion and society events, McCall’s gained literary credibility by publishing fiction from contemporary authors such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway and John Steinbeck. The May 1931 issue is representative of the large-format glossy magazines of the era, with full-page illustrated advertisements for products such as Hudson and Essex automobiles, Brookfield Butter, Lux Laundry Soap and many more.

“The Incomparable Sonja Henie” program (1939) – Created by 3-time Olympic Gold Medal skater and actress Sonja Henie in the late 1930’s, the Ice Revues were a precursor to the Ice Capades. In addition to transforming figure skating into a more graceful and popular event by incorporating ballet maneuvers and dance choreography into her routines, she was the first skater to wear a skirt that came above her knees. This program guide for the 1940 production contains many photos of Heine as she dances across the ice, and is in excellent condition for being 70 years old!

“Pepper” Martin original baseball photo (1930’s) – Known as the “Wild Horse of the Osage” during his tenure with the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team, John “Pepper” Martin was a colorful and extremely talented member of the Cardinals’ “Gashouse Gang”. Named as the first “Male Athlete of the Year” by the Associated Press in 1931, Martin helped the Cardinals win two World Series titles and still holds the 3rd highest batting average for the Series and 9th highest number of bases stolen. This original black-and-white photo of Martin is undated but appears to be taken in Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis. The snapshot was discovered inside a personal scrapbook dated 1930 and is an extremely rare piece of sports memorabilia.

“The Gashouse Gang” (1946) – This history of the 1934 World Series winning St. Louis Cardinals “Gashouse Gang” contains many photos and stories of colorful players such as “Pepper” Martin, “Dizzy” Dean, Stan “The Man” Musial and many more. Published in 1946, this is a fifth printing which retains its scarce original unclipped dust jacket.

Deck the Halls with Recycled Reads!

It’s crunch time for all of you last-minute holiday shoppers, so have I got a deal for you! This Saturday (December 19th) from 12-5pm, Recycled Reads will be having a special one day only Holiday Gift Book Sale!

Thanks to a very generous donation this week by a local civic-minded business, we are pleased to offer a selection of new and collectible oversized and “coffee-table” gift books for the ridiculously low price of $5 each. Normally these beautiful large volumes are found in retail bookstores at this time of year with a sticker price of $30 or more. Most of these books are in mint condition and would make elegant gifts for anyone. And at these prices, how can you refuse?

In conjunction with these beautiful large volumes, we are also pleased to offer a large number of brand new soft-cover and hardback books from the same donor at our usual ridiculously low price of $1 and $2 each. These new offerings can be found on shelves throughout the store and on display near our Collectibles Cabinets. To round out your gift selection, a number of brand new CD’s still in shrink wrap can be found in our Media section for $1 each.

In addition to these new offerings, we are pleased to include a limited number of items from our Collectibles Cabinets in our one-day $5 sale. These items will be plainly marked down to $5 and available for purchase at our Holiday Gift table located in front of the Collectibles Cabinets. As always, all of the items in our Collectibles Cabinets are available for purchase at ridiculously low prices and would make excellent gifts for the discerning collectors and book lovers on your list.

To help make your hectic holiday shopping day a little easier, your trip through our aisles on Saturday will be serenaded by the warm sounds of the Hill Country Brass Quintet. Founded in 1989 by trumpeter Randy Heaton as a student group at Southwest Texas State University (now Texas State University), Hill Country Brass has developed into a professional brass quintet performing extensively throughout the state of Texas and New Mexico. Heaton is joined by fellow STSU grads Ron Ledbetter on trumpet and Paul Dixon on French horn, United States Army Band alum Brenda Sansig on trombone and Keith Robinson on tuba. Hill Country Brass is dedicated to bringing the joy and grandeur of brass to music lovers of all ages, and we are sure they will make the time you spend with us a pleasant one.

So you’ve looked all around and still don’t have a clue about what to get that special someone on your list? Don’t worry! Our Recycled Reads Gift Certificates make great stocking stuffers at $5 or $10 each. We have thousands of books, CDs, DVDs, records and tapes to choose from at ridiculously low prices. They may be small in size, but just one of our Gift Certificates can buy more than Santa could possibly carry down the chimney!

New Collectibles
This week we continue to highlight selected new additions to our Collectibles Cabinets. Here are just a few of the many new additions that will be made available this week:

The Paper Republic (2009) – Mint-condition Texana, First Edition, First Printing (November 2009). As reviewed on Amazon.com: “A new take on the stirring story of the Texas Revolution, this history focuses on the financial underpinnings and monetary issues that factored into the struggle. Deftly weaving numismatics and history into an engaging and highly entertaining narrative, the story unveils a verifiable trail of many of the most significant people and events surrounding the struggle for independence in Texas. It is replete with colorful anecdotes about visionary kings, obsessive dictators, crooked politicians, and counterfeiters and includes a detailed history of each piece of coin and currency used in the old Republic.”

The Nancy Drew series (Applewood editions) – 15 volumes of the famous Nancy Drew girl detective series. Applewood Editions are facsimiles of the original Nancy Drew books as written by Carolyn Keene and contain no updates or changes from the original stories. These editions contain the original black and white illustrations printed on glossy paper. This is a rare out-of-print collection and all volumes are in near-mint condition.

The Bobsey Twins series (vintage) – 36 volumes of the Grosset & Dunlap “Green Board Format #5” editions of the Bobsey Twins, the longest running series of books for children. Thirty-one of these volumes are complete with original issue full-color dust-jackets dating from the 1930’s. This is a rare out-of-print collection and all volumes are in Good to Good+ condition.

The Maida Westabrook series (vintage) – 8 volumes of the Maida Westabrook series about a “poor little rich girl” who grows up with unusual friends. Unlike most other contemporary long-running series for children, these books were written by one person: Inez Haynes Gillmore Irwin, an influential writer, feminist leader and political activist. All volumes in this set include the original issue full-color dust-jackets. This is a rare out-of-print collection and all volumes are in Good to Good+ condition.

The Perfect Gift

Are you one of those people who dread the holidays? I admit that there are times when I am one of those people, especially when this season rolls around.

Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Yule or none of the above, the days and weeks surrounding the winter solstice are historically filled with grand traditions involving eating, drinking, socializing and gift-giving. Most of us don’t have a problem with those first three (unless you count over-indulgence as a problem), but some people visibly cringe at the thought of having to attend an office party or family gathering where gifts are exchanged.

Picking the right gift to be given during a holiday can be stressful. The ideal gift is one which will bring joy and delight to its recipient without causing undue anxiety on the part of the giver, the recipient or any casual observer. However, achieving that ideal is easier said than done. When selecting a gift I invariably ask myself all sorts of questions: Will the person like this gift? Am I paying too much or too little? Is it appropriately tasteful or too tacky? Is anyone else giving them the exact same thing and will it be opened before my gift? All of this can add a great deal of stress at a time when additional stress is neither desired or needed. And we won’t even begin to talk about that White Elephant party at the office…

Receiving gifts can be almost as stressful. How many times have you gone to a family holiday gathering where gifts were exchanged, and when it was time to open your gift (under the close scrutiny of everyone in the room) you discovered that your gift was an embarrassing novelty item. Or had the wrong name tag on it. Or was two sizes too large. I don’t know about you, but “Oops! Sorry!” doesn’t quite cut it for me in those situations.

Fortunately for everyone involved, this year you can find some sure-fire holiday stress relief at Recycled Reads. We all know that books make perfect gifts but it can often be tricky when trying to decide just which book you should give. Now you can avoid all the stress of choosing the perfect holiday gift by giving everyone on your list a Recycled Reads Gift Certificate! Whether you give a certificate for $5, $10 or more, we have thousands of books, CDs, DVDs, records and tapes to choose from at ridiculously low prices so your generous gift will buy more here than at any other book store in town.

And you never know – come in to visit and you might even get this perfect gift for yourself!

New Collectibles
This week we continue to highlight selected new additions to our Collectibles Cabinets. In conjunction with our one-day-only Vintage Children’s Book Sale on Saturday December 12th, here are just a few of the many new additions that will be made available this week:

Peter Rabbit Muslin Board Game (1913) – Many of us can remember playing “Pin the Tail On the Donkey” at a childhood friend’s birthday party. This unique variation on the timeless children’s game uses Peter Rabbit in place of the donkey and cabbage leaves in place of the tail. Published in 1913 by the Saalfield Publishing Company of Akron and printed in color on finely woven muslin cloth, this game was released while the original Beatrix Potter stories were being published for the first time. Measures 18”w x 21”h with an 18” high color image of Peter Rabbit surrounded by four smaller brown line vignettes from the book. Although the small cabbage pieces have been lost, this relic of a more innocent time can be cherished for many generations to come.

The Tale of Peter Rabbit (1907) – This is the original story of Peter Rabbit as written and illustrated by the famous children’s author Beatrix Potter. The Henry Altemus website suggests this could be a 2nd edition 2nd state, although on-line booksellers claim this to be the first edition (and thus the pirated edition). The title page date is 1907, with a gift Inscription dated 1914. The book is in excellent condition and the cover boards have been very well protected by the extremely rare dust jacket.

Some Things DO Improve With Age!

Of the many tasks we perform each week at Recycled Reads, my favorite is the opportunity to sort through donations. We process a lot of books from the Austin Public Library warehouse and these make up the majority of the books we ultimately sell, but almost by definition the books we receive from the Library are “middle-aged” – neither very new nor very old. This is not usually the case with donations.

Thanks to the generosity of our donors, many days we receive books that have been recently purchased, read quickly and given directly to us to raise money for the Library. If you are a frequent visitor to our store, you may have noticed a current best-seller being placed on one of our tiered displays near the front entrance – and don’t blink, for these tend to disappear just as quickly as they arrive! However, just as often we will receive boxes that have obviously been stored in a dark and dusty place for a long time. While we greatly appreciate getting new books that can be resold quickly [at ridiculously low prices of $2 for hard-cover, $1 for soft-cover and $0.50 for children's books], it is these older volumes that get my heart pumping.

One thing I have learned in my years of selling books is that some things really do improve with age. Surprisingly, original cost and rarity do not always imply increased value over time. For example, you would expect a nice coffee-table book which originally cost $75 to be opened and read occasionally then stored on a bookshelf after it has been replaced with another decorative item. While this is great for the book, such fine treatment does not increase the book’s resale value with age since almost all expensive mass-produced decorative books are treated in this fashion. Another example is the “best-seller”: its novelty value quickly reduces over time as more copies are produced and more people have a chance to read it. Except for the occasional rare first edition by a famous author, best-sellers over 10 years old hardly sell at all today.

Ironically it is those books which are not considered to have any great value (and are therefore not handled as carefully as more expensive ones) which tend to become more valuable with age. What books do I think appreciate the most over time? Easy: children’s books. Think about it – when was the last time you saw a well-preserved book in your infant son or daughter’s toy box? Chances are good that even the nicest new book was chewed, dunked, torn or colored within the first month of its existence.

Fortunately for all of us, our ancestors held a higher reverence for the printed word than we do today. Thanks to their foresight, wisdom or simply stricter household rules, books of all types were treated as the treasures they were. In the days before television, iPods and video games, a child’s book was considered both educational and entertaining. Popular artists would often lend their talents to illustrating books for children of all ages, making vintage children’s books quite collectible to fans of these artists. When added to the relative scarcity of books printed for children in earlier days, a finely illustrated child’s book in good condition can be very hard to find.

So where does this lead? To our next big sale, of course! For one day only on Saturday December 12th, Recycled Reads will hold a Vintage Children’s $5 Book Sale. Just in time for the holidays, a limited selection of beautifully illustrated vintage children’s books will be offered for sale at the ridiculously low price of $5 each. These unique books date from the Victorian era through the early 1980’s and will be available on a first-come, first-served basis in front of the Collectibles Cabinets.

Better hurry, though – unlike these books, this sale does not improve with age!

New Collectibles
This week we continue to highlight selected new additions to our Collectibles Cabinets. Here are just a few of the many new additions that will be made available for next week:

Monkey Shines & Good Times With Funny Folks (circa 1910) – Today we take children’s comics for granted, but 100 years ago comic illustrators focused mainly on producing political cartoons for periodicals. Monkey Shines is an entertaining example of what happens when a Victorian cartoonist (Raymond H. Garman, aka “Gar”) illustrates a children’s book.

Cutey-Cuddledown (circa 1916) and Kellog’s Funny Jungleland Moving Pictures (1909) – Two fine examples of early 20th century promotional marketing books targeting children. Cutey-Cuddledown was a cartoon model for the Quaker Robe Company of Philadelphia, and this unusually shaped die-cut tells a poem of how Cutsey stays warm in her Quaker Robe. Funny Jungleland is a fanciful “moving-picture” book produced by the W. K. Kellogg cereal company of Battle Creek, Michigan. A precursor to modern-day pop-ups, this colorful booklet contains fold-out pages of animal illustrations cut into horizontal strips which are cleverly aligned so that fanciful animals could be created from the overlay of different body parts.

Three Little Kittens (circa 1900) – One of a series of Father Tuck’s Nursery Tales, the Three Little Kittens is an example of sophisticated Victorian England artistry applied to paper using chromo-lithography and sepia-toned sketches. Each page of this cute story is illustrated with multiple sketches, and every other page is a full-color plate in striking colors – still in amazing condition after 100 years.

Little Red Riding Hood “Pop-Up” (circa 1900) – Lke the Kellogg’s book, this is an early precursor to modern pop-up books. This version of the classic Grimm’s fairy tale is finely illustrated with chromo-lithographs and Victorian lettering, and expanding colored tissue paper is used to create a simple dimensional effect between pages.

Fancy Dress A-B-C (1905) – A unique mix of toy and story, Fancy Dress A-B-C was printed by Dean’s Rags Books of London using cloth rather than bound paper pages. Marketed as being “quite indestructible”, these books could be used as primers in schools for years without needing to be replaced. Although slightly frayed on the edges, this book could easily be used to teach children their A-B-C’s for another 100 years.

Work and Play On The Farm (circa 1900), Bob’s School Days (circa 1890), Dame Crump (circa 1890), Hector the Dog (circa 1890), and Hush-A-Bye Baby (circa 1890) – Victorian-era publisher McLoughlin Brothers dominated the market for children’s books in the late 1800’s by pioneering the use of series characters and color printing techniques in that genre. Their books became an outlet for popular illustrators of the day, and at their height McLoughlin produced a wide range of items including cheap chapbooks, large folio picture books, linen books, puzzles, games and paper dolls. These 5 children’s books , several of which are extremely rare titles, offer lush illustrations in detailed Victorian themes.

What’s Old Is New Again

One of the most enjoyable parts of shopping at Recycled Reads is the opportunity to discover hidden treasure.

A serious comics sale at Recycled Reads

Super Comics Sale this weekend at Recycled Reads – over 1000 $1 and $2 collectible comics.