Mesa Historical Museum book sale a bonanza and a bargain

Feb. 2—Attention, local history buffs, collectors and people who eschew e-readers for the real thing: the Mesa Historical Museum next month will have a really big deal for you.

Some 40,000 books will be on sale at prices likely not found on Kindle or any other website — as in $1 for paperbacks and $2 for hard covers.

The sale, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 17, and 8 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 18, will take place on the museum grounds, 2345 N. Horne, Mesa, and the bargains get even better Sunday when everything except vintage books are half-off.

"We are in our fourth year holding this book fair and it has gone from 7,000 books during our first event to over 40,000 books," said museum Executive Director Susan Ricci.

The books were donated throughout the year by people from across the East Valley, she said, and sorting them into every imaginable category of fiction and nonfiction has been tasked to four senior citizens — including Ricci's 81-year-old mother.

"They've come in every week, twice a week and they love it," Ricci said. "And they've been sorting books for a year."

With the sale benefitting the museum and its rich collection of artifacts from Mesa's roots, the sorters "kind of have this little bit of possessiveness over the books now," she added.

"I love it," she said. "They show up and go right over to the auditorium and work the whole morning and afternoon, taking little breaks together. It's wonderful."

Also wonderful, besides the bargains, is the stash of some very old finds that treasure hunters will want to peruse and buy at prices slightly higher than most.

Two weeks ago, Ricci said she had "rare books from the early 1900s spread out all over my kitchen table as I tried to price them."

"We always get old Bibles every year and we have a few from the 1860s," said Ricci. "And what makes them so amazing is that they have inscriptions in them."

"These old Bibles have been handed down for generations but somehow for whatever reason, they ended up in our possession.

Another find among the thousands of donations Ricci got was a 1887 White House cookbook.

"It's pretty tattered but it's still amazing to be offering something so old and unique," she said.

Another book contains poems from the early 1900s, she added.

For people wondering who in the world buys old books in the digital age, the answer is: a lot of readers.

Either because they prefer the feel of turning pages, however brittle they might be, or because they find something enchanting about the musty smell of these old tomes, "people turn out in droves," Ricci said.

And, she added, "We have an amazing assortment of books in every category you can think of from fiction to romance to cooking, self-help, fitness, science, art and many more."

That turnout has transformed the book sale into the museum's biggest annual fundraiser, she added.

Ricci also was a little nervous about the weather. Because the book sale is outdoors, she moved the date to later next month from this weekend.

"I complain a lot that it never rains and now it has rained for two of my events so I should keep my mouth shut," she joked.

To find out if a rain date is necessary, stay in touch with the museum's Facebook page or mesahistoricalmuseum.com