Book sale this weekend at George Mason Regional Library

The children’s room at the book sale is well-stocked but sells out early.

The Taste of Annandale isn’t the only thing happening in Annandale this weekend. The George Mason Friends are hosting s semi-annual book sale, beginning tomorrow at 3 p.m., at George Mason Regional Library.

There are a couple of rarities, reports Laura Noble, of the Friends group, including a three-volume set of the novel Villette. Most likely a first edition, it was published in 1853 under the name Currer Bell, better known to the world as Charlotte Bronte.

Villette, considered an unrecognized masterpiece, is about a young woman who moves to Brussels to teach at a girls’ school and wrestles with her unrequited love for a married professor. It can be yours for $500.  

Also at the book sale: A 250-year-old fourth English edition of Don Quixote. This four-volume set of The Life & Exploits of the Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote de la Mancha, by Miguel Cervantes de Saavedra, was translated by Charles Jarvis. It is beautifully bound in black quarter morocco with marbled boards and gilt ornamentation on the corners and spine. The Friends are selling it for $400.

The sale book sale is open 3-9 p.m. on Thursday; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. on Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturday, and noon-5 p.m. on Sunday.

There are music, videos, and games on sale, as well as a vast array of high-quality books organized into more than 80 categories – everything from popular fiction to world history, from self-help to graphic novels.

An entire separate room is dedicated to children’s books, sorted by subject and reading level.

Proceeds from the sale benefit not only George Mason Regional Library, but also the entire Fairfax County public library system. One of the Friends’ most important county projects is helping to fund the Children’s Summer Reading Program.