Book Fairs, Library Sales - Dates & Times

[judy-oz]

Let's continue the great thread from the 'old' boards and share information about Library Sales, Book Fairs

[sqaukibuf]

Mister F, the RHSV history book sale was on June 18th from what google just told me. Looks like waiting until next year for you.

[peteepie]

Attended a few fairs the last few weeks; just for future reference:-

Kyneton friends of the library was a waste of time with very few books on offer.

However Kyneton books and bites at the Uniting Church Hall had a big range, mainly fiction, at .50 cents per book.  Bit of a mish mash but a nice spot.

Daylesford Primary book fair had a lot of books but were a bit dearer.  Priced from $1 to $6 with a lot at $3.  Still I bought 12 for $23 and enjoyed the atmosphere.

St. Peters East Melbourne was mainly non-fiction and religious...heaps of religious books, as in hundreds if not thousands!  Bought some fiction at $2 a book.  Lovely hall, St.Peters church next door, St. Patricks Cathedral over the road, parliament house etc nearby.  They also had a fair happening, tea/coffee and a sausage sizzle.

Williamstown and Altona library sales both their usual good value.

Next up is Bendigo in 2 weeks, including a visit to the Great Stupa.

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[peteepie]

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@misterforgetfulsbooks wrote:

Not sure which Peetie you were at Leongatha. 

It was great and we ended up with 8 boxes full.

40c a book was very good

Doh! missed West Geelong - one of my fave's

Too bad I was in Thailand when Yarragon was on though lucky Denis and Squaki's son managed to get a few good finds in my absence.

Hopefully once parliament gets into full swing next week that things should start to get back to normal in the retail feild. 

Elections are always bad for consumer confidence.

Cranbourne was cheaper than usual, sometimes depends on the person serving you as to what they will charge you per item

Haven't gotten an email from the balnarring book sale yet so don't know if it's been or comming up yet.

Haven't seen the Mt Eliza Lions or Rotary book sale advertised yet.

Wondering when the local history books sale is going to be up on A'Beckett st Melb. too.

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Assuming the Balnarring book sale you mention is the one held at St. Marks, they are undergoing renovations and the hall is out of action so maybe that explains that one.

Can't find anything recent on Mt. Eliza anywhere.  However in searching I found I'd missed one on 10th/11th September at North Melbourne Meat Market Stables run by Rotary in North Melbourne.  Particularly galling in that a lot of the books were supplied by Rotary Geelong West which is my local crowd.  Ah well, they might not have been much chop anyway going by their (Geelong's) recent offerings.  This was Rotary North Melbourne's first go at a book fair, so would have liked to have attended.

At the Abbotsford Convent book fair a couple of months back the Carlton Rotary Club were questioning people about book fairs with a view to holding their own fair.  I gave them my details but they never got in touch.  Will check up on them every now and then though.  It is so easy to miss these things!

I usually wear my black "University of Ballarat" cap at book fairs Mr. F.  Was a freebie from the Miners Rest fair they have every two months.  Last time it was a boxing kangaroo Olympic cap which will stay in the cupboard mostly.  I found the peak on the cap seemed to make it easier to scan through the books so have persisted with it; so come and say hi if you see it!  

[peteepie]

Just found a fair on this Saturday 24/9 in Mornington

St.Peters Anglican Centre.  Cnr Octavia and Albert Streets Mornington

9-2

Advertised as mini fete and fiction book fair.

Their book fair in January goes for four days and is good value.  Not sure if this will be as big but it is in the same hall.

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[misterforgetfulsbooks]

thanks Peetie and Squaki

Thought Morwell was coming up too sometime this month.

Garage Sale Trail is on 22nd Oct. you need a smart phone for that one.

I usually go to the area that has the highest density of red dots on the map so as to do as many Garage sales as I can in as small an area as possible

[peteepie]

Just posted book fairs for October to the blog.

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There are quite a few good fairs coming up in Victoria including Miners Rest (9/10), Eltham (15/10), Ballarat (15,16/10), Casey library (22/10) and Morwell (22,23/10), plus various smaller ones.  Couple of big lifeline fairs on in south of Sydney this weekend.

Mornington was disappointing, bit of an afterthought for them I think, only used the hall foyer.  Bendigo a good size as usual but no late markdown.  No boxes under the tables, they kept bringing them out to replenish tables...seems to be a developing trend.

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[peteepie]

Eltham was great value at $2 for all books.  A lot of really good quality, like new, h/c.  Not library books.  In excellent alphabetical order and well displayed in nice bright hall.  Ox Fam hold this fair in Eltham on the third Saturday in October each year.  For quality of books the equal or better of the Wheelers Hill fairs (held 3-4 times a year), but $1.50 per book cheaper.  If you are after as-new h/c books these are the two fairs I would recommend.

Ballarat was a different story.  Reluctant to criticise a Rotary-run fair as with most fairs they are all volunteering their time for charity...however.  They were all library books, which I think they should advertise in advance (not that library books worry me, just think it should be known up front).   I got there at three on Sunday.  They advertised that they were finishing at four.  The hall was very dull, like they'd turned off half the lights (an old shopkeepers trick to get people out, and they are rotarians).  They were already frantically clearing the hall of books, and I felt like I was being chased out of the place.  Nobody was unpleasant but it was a very unwelcoming atmosphere.  There were hardly any customers, but the few there would not have enjoyed this experience.  Would suggest they either close the fair an hour earlier or wait until four to start clearing the books so aggressively.  They had at least twenty people rushing in and out and making a lot of noise.

Anyway, probably serves me right for arriving late hoping for the last hour $5/10 box clearance sale that Rotary fairs are well know for!  Only $2 a book so might give it another go next year, only would go earlier and it won't be a priority.

Looking forward to a trip to Morwell next Saturday via Phoenix Park and Hampton Park libraries.

[sqaukibuf]

At Morwell I'll be the lady with the old reliable granny trolley Pete. Not planning on getting much, but have been known to say that before & struggle to get 2 granny trolleys plus full bags on the bus home. 🙂  Morwell do a good job sorting the non-fiction, not so good at sorting the fiction the last few years. The kids books are usually in the foyer, the rest in the rear half of the large hall.

The Warragul book sale is always very well sorted into genres, makes it a lot easier to find what you want quicker. Not sure I'll go this year, only made up my mind on the day last year and got some great books, plus one of the volunteers gave me a lift to the train station. 🙂

[peteepie]

Hi sqauki...I'll keep my eye out for you, although I won't get there until one or two so I guess you will probably be done and dusted by then.  I'll have the trusty Ballarat Uni cap on  

Same as you with Warragul with it being a work day, and heading to Horsham the following Friday.

Happy hunting.

[sqaukibuf]

Mr Forgetful and I were all done early. Unlike me they were going back Sunday. I ended up feeling like carp Sunday, first cold in a year & suitably sookie lala with it.

I wasn't a fan of the new setup for kids & YA books, only one table of them. There used to be about 5 of them in the past. Aspy teen wasn't going to get anything for himself but managed a bag full ( that I had to pay for coincedentally) and I got 3 bags, mostly for ebay. Weather was a tad bleak, might have put some people off as it wasn't as busy as I've seen it be in the past. And leaving the restocking until Sunday, not a fan.