The Moss Library Sale: Hard-to-find books at 20 pesos each
Our friends the Mosses are having a big library sale at their house in Quezon City. On sale are over a thousand books, hardcover and paperback, at 20 pesos each. Most of the books are now hard to find, and there are lots and lots of collectible Penguin Classics.
We went there this afternoon chanting, “We don’t need more books, we just want to see what you’ve got. No, really, we don’t need more books.” An hour later, we had filled up a box with 25 books by Georges Simenon, Shirley Jackson, Jan Morris, V.S. Pritchett, Nancy Mitford, Sylvia Townsend Warner, Lawrence Durrell and Pauline Kael. And we were already exercising maximum self-control. Total expense: 500 pesos, less than the current retail price of one trade edition.
If you’d like to go to the library sale, email us at saffron.safin@gmail.com. We’ll reply with details and put you on the list. The sale is until July 30 only.
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UPDATE: As of 6pm on Monday, 20 July 2015, there are no more books available from the Moss Library. Much as Jason enjoys entertaining guests, you’ll have to wait until he opens a bar (We would invest in that).
Thanks to everyone who attended the library sale and provided new homes for those books. We know that bibliophiliacs like to crow about their acquisitions, so tell us what titles you found in the stacks.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
July 21st, 2015 at 10:52
Was just about to txt Jason again (who had promised to get back to me; that was 2PM yesterday). That all the books were taken already – I’m equal parts disappointed and relieved. But I’m sure to be drooling later reading about what the others got.
July 22nd, 2015 at 14:13
William Safire’s Language Maven Strikes Again
E Annie Proulx’s Close Range (yes, yung may Brokeback Mountain)
Wilfred Funk’s Word Origins and Their Romantic Stories
Selected Stories of Eudora Welty
The Best American Essays 1990 & 1996
The Best American Short Stories 1983
Nagpigil ako mamakyaw ng Elmore Leonard and Safire. Ang daming le Carré. Sabi ko babalikan ko na lang kasi manonood pa kami ng Ant-Man, alangan namang may karay-karay akong kahon sa loob ng sine. Ayoko rin iwan sa baggage counter ng mall. Ayan, ubos na pala.
So many lexicons and books about the English language. I picked up Fowler’s Modern Usage but lost it in the process.