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Landfill Ho!

wo people have brought me large numbers of older Book of the And the more I looked at them, the worse they looked (and
Month Club novels in the past week. The first man, who was smelled)! Obviously, I had to get them out of the shop as soon as
Tcleaning out his mother’s house called first. If he had told possible, but what to do with them. I finally decided that I would go
me that they were mostly BOMC club editions, I would have declined through them and hopefully pull out anything that was salable and
them sight unseen, and even though a book person could tell at a store them off-premises until I could figure out how to get rid of them.
glance what they were – of course, he did not know any of that. So next morning I arrived in my old van aptly nicknamed the
They generally were smaller in size, printed on cheaper paper and with “Silverfish” because of its color and soon loaded it with 15 or so boxes.
cheaper bindings. The once-a-week trash day was tomorrow, and while they certainly
I did tell him that I did not want books that were wet, stinky, or would not take a mountain of books,
had bugs in them, and he assured me hopefully, I could put out maybe four
that they did not have any of those boxes of books a week and be rid of them
problems. in a month.
So next morning he pulls up in his There was always the option of the
pickup pulling an open trailer which was county landfill, but they charge by weight
loaded with probably about thirty boxes and nothing is heavier than wet books, plus
of books. Quite a load and more than I it would just about kill me to have to pay
would usually want, but as he removed to throw away free books!
the tarp covering them, they seemed OK So next morning I came roaring out
to bring in. only to find that the trash truck had come
Oh, yes, I forgot to say that they were and gone. I had not wanted to put the
free. He just wanted them to go to a good boxes out the night before because it was
home. So, I thought that with all those supposed to rain.
books, there must be something in there I I hated to keep the nasty books in my
could use. Right! Right? van because I was sneezing just in the few
As I was helping him carry the boxes in, minutes it took me to drive to town, and
I started to see that lots of them I knew it could not be healthy breathing
were BOMC editions which are slightly all that mold, even for a short time.
smaller, cheaper versions of the regular Then a thought hit me, the local recy-
publisher’s editions. Since you joined a mail- cling station has a bin for books. I never
order club to get these, they were not sold in paid any attention to it because it was
stores, and there was no price printed on the always full to overflowing, but I should
inner front flap of the paper dust jacket. And at least check it out. Imagine my
if the jacket is missing, there is usually a surprise when I found that it was
blind-stamped dot or impression on the empty! So, I backed up and fed 15+
lower corner of the back cover. boxes of books, two or three at a
An inexpensive edition of a book, while time through the small slot, which
probably not collectible, still might be OK, took me about 45 minutes. And the
except that the authors whose books appeared flattened boxes went into the card-
in the BOMC versions were hugely popular board recycle bin.
then, but not very much now, so the existing Then I happily drove to the
supply of these books and authors far exceeds Inside flap of the BOMC edition of The Mother Hunt by Rex Stout, bookshop and then loaded it up with
the diminishing demand for them. A few with apologies to Rex, a fine author. Upon looking for an image for nine more boxes which I dropped
BOMCs like To Kill A Mockingbird have some this column, I realized I did not have any leftover BOMC books off at the Local Book Depository
value, but most don’t. from the 30 boxes given to me earlier because I’d thrown them all that afternoon, happily bouncing
But and if that wasn’t bad enough, I started away! But I found this BOMC on my shelves that fit the bill. home in my now empty van. I got
to notice that while the tops of the books were maybe a box and a half of books that
OK, the bottoms of some of the boxes were wet, which fact I pointed were salable. They were free, but it was hardly worth it. I don’t think
out to him. Still, they were free, and hopefully, I could salvage some- I’ve ever thrown away that many books before.
thing. We unloaded them and he drove off and as I had a chance to Someone brought two more boxes of BOMCs this morning and
examine them inside, the smell of stinky, moldy books was overpowering! even though these were stink-freed stink-free –
And of course, this wasn’t as noticeable outside where there was a I politely declined them.
breeze blowing.

James Dawson has owned and operated the Unicorn Bookshop in Trappe, MD since 1975, when he decided that it would be more fun to buy and sell old books and maps than to get
a “real” job. For a born collector like Jim, having a shop just might be another excuse to buy more books. He has about 30,000 second hand and rare books on the shelves, and just
about all subjects are represented. He can be contacted at P.O. Box 154; Trappe, MD 21673; 410-476-3838; unicornbookshopMD@gmail.com; www.unicornbookshop.com

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