When the doors open Friday for the annual Smith College Club of Baltimore book sale at the Timonium Fairgrounds, stand clear of the bibliophiles. They may mow you down as they sprint through the exhibition hall for bargains in the military section, or the mysteries or beach reads to be found among the sale's 50,000 carefully sorted volumes.
"I love that moment," says Joan Griffith, co-chair and 25-year veteran of the sale. That's when she and other volunteers can finally exult in their year-round work on the scholarship fundraiser. "We're excited and they're excited," Griffith says.
A rite of spring, the Smith College sale draws thousands. But as prices for gas, food and other necessities skyrocket, it's gratifying to know that avid readers can, with little expense, feed a hunger for books all year long.
The Baltimore region is rich with sources of inexpensive or free books, both used and new, for recreational readers, teachers, students and independent scholars. Each book outlet has carved its own niche from the infinite possibilities created by the publishing industry and spring cleaning purges of books from home libraries.
At Normal's Books and Records, a Waverly mainstay for nearly 18 years, browsers will find a fastidiously organized collection of used books ranging "from the obscure to the indispensable," according to the shop's motto.
Normal's "specializes in Eastern and Western philosophy, art books and classic literature," says co-owner Rupert Wondolowski. A first edition of Tom Wolfe's A Man in Full costs $10. A quality paperback edition of The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition by Caroline Alexander goes for $6. A slightly musty clothbound copy of Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather sells for $4. Any number of paperbacks are $2.
There's something "for every budget," Wondolowski says.
Around the corner at The Book Thing, everything is free, but browsers must invest more time as they cull through the warren of some 250,000 titles. Although loosely organized by subject, nothing is filed in alphabetical order and erudite tomes share space with odd encyclopedia volumes and self-published books such as one by someone who claims to be Elvis' therapist - still.
The random nature of what's available at The Book Thing is "what makes it fun," says its founder, Russell Wattenberg.
Local students and teachers also know to come in summer when The Book Thing's shelves swell with text books and syllabus perennials.
