newberry book fair

The Newberry Library Book Fair is always a highlight of my summers.  This year it was especially of importance to me since I was out of town for it last year.  I am a bookhunter who's obsessed enough to arrive fifteen minutes before the doors open (and at that time, I still had to wait in a line that wrapped halfway around the building).  Had I been even more serious about getting first dibs, I could have donated $100 to the library just to attend the preview last night.  Preview or not, I still snagged some amazing finds.  I spent over two hours there and walked out with 24 books, each one ranging in price from fifty cents to $2.50.  Quite a deal.  Here are some of my new acquisitions:  

The Little Prince, in Portuguese.  It was in the French section, and for fifty cents, I thought it was charming.

The Tale of Peter Rabbit in Italian.  At least this one I can understand.

The Giving Tree in Hebrew.  It even reads right to left.  Like the Portuguese Little Prince, I don't understand a word of it.  And like the Portuguese Little Prince, it seemed like too good of a deal to pass up.

A French children's book from 1948.

It has beautiful color illustrations.

French comic books (bandes dessinées).  Two of the most popular series: Astérix and TinTin.

Danish children's books!  More for the category of books I appreciate but can't read.

"Hh" is for "viking" ... or "toothpaste"?

What I've gleaned from the cognates in its title (Illustreret Danmarks Historie): an illustrated history of  Denmark.

French textbooks for me.

A book about Louis XIV by Max Gallo of the Académie Française.

I paid a steep price of $1.

It was a privately printed book ("livre hors commerce").  And it's a limited edition ("tirage limité").

I've stopped myself from buying Harry Potter in French so many times before.  But for $1, I couldn't pass it up.

1919 edition.

I've been wanting to read this one for awhile.  It's a coming-of-age novel, published in 1954 but supposedly still relevant.

I couldn't resist the illustrations in this 1961 children's book.  It is written in French by an American author.

It has an inscription: "To - Aunt Ida - With Love - Virginia".

And this French edition of Hansel & Gretel came with an audio recording on CD.

The book fair runs through this Sunday, and I've heard everything is half-price then to move it off the shelves.  Too bad we have plans this Sunday, otherwise I'd probably go back.  Until next year, Newberry ...