Through the years: Pequot Library celebrates 50 years of rare finds

The Pequot Library will hold its 50th annual book sale from Friday, July 23, through Tuesday, July 27, and will have more than 140,000 books for sale at reduced prices.

The book sale, spearheaded by the library's Management Committee co-chairmen Doug Fried and John Hartwell, will also feature various audiobooks, LPs, 45s, CDs, DVDs, and tapes.

Rare finds, such as a first edition copy of Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn and a collection of Charles Dickens' novels published in 1884, will be put up for live and silent auctions.

Daniel Snydacker, executive director of the Pequot Library, called this 50-year milestone "amazing" and said he was "really impressed with the level of commitment and support" the community has shown the library.

"What it means is that there's a high level of sustainable support for a wonderful institution," said Snydacker, who has been executive director since 2004; this will be his seventh book sale. "This community supports the Pequot Library with all its heart. I'm honored to be a part of it."

Fried added that the book sale reaching its 50th anniversary was "very impressive."

"The book sale has a great history and was associated with some great people," he said. "It's a great bunch of people -- people who wanted to pay back the library for the services it provides, and this is a good way to give something back."

In celebration of the book sale's 50th anniversary, the Pequot Library hosted a volunteer reunion social for all volunteers of past book sales.

"It went great; it was very touching," said Snydacker. "Most of the living past chair[men] were there, and we all shared some very touching, very funny stories."

One such story, Snydacker recalled, involved a 20-year volunteer of the book sale, who had been a corporate librarian in Manhattan. According to Snydacker, her husband had given her for her birthday a book of essays by famous authors, inside of which he had written a note to her. The next morning, the woman took the book on the train, and lost the book in the city while rushing home.

"Thirty years later, she's working in the auditorium during the January book sale, and she sees on the table in front of her, the book," Snydacker recounted. "She figures it's just another copy of the same book, but she picks it up and -- it's a serendipitous miracle -- there was her husband's inscription."

Fried remembers another story, in which the library received a "richly illustrated journal" someone had kept.

"We felt it was too nice to sell, so I spent some time on the internet trying to track down the owner of the book. It turns out the journal belonged to an illustrator living in England who has 25 years worth of journals, and this was the one he had been missing."

According to Fried, the illustrator had lost the journal while on safari in Africa, when a wildebeest had started charging at him.

"And it just showed up 10 years later at one of our book sales," said Fried.

Snydacker said that such tales are "typical of the magic that happens here."

"There's something magical about a book sale," he said. "These books jump out and find people, or pull people in."

Preparing for the book sale is a "massive group effort," according to Fried, who has been co-chairman of the sale for 10 years. There are approximately 210 volunteers on the roster who help sort, price, box and label the books in preparation for the July 23 opening.

The Pequot Library received corporate support from Borders book store in Fairfield, which donated $5,000 worth of books to the library.

"That really represents a significant contribution," said Snydacker. "We've always worked really well with the local Borders, but this pushes that relationship up a notch."

As part of the Books for Teachers program, supported by the Renée B. Fisher Foundation, 400 teachers from public schools in Bridgeport and New Haven will receive vouchers for up to $100, with which they can purchase books at the sale to add to their classroom libraries.

"Programs like that make you want to spend a lot of time organizing this," said Fried.

Young Reader's Day is Sunday, July 25. On that day, a special tent will be erected with books for kids, and there will also be arts and crafts and face-painting. Children's singer Marcia Louis will perform a concert at 1 p.m.

On that day, any child who comes dressed up as his or her favorite sea- or water-related storybook character -- in honor of the library's Summer Reading Program theme, "Make a Splash" -- will receive a certificate for a free book.

"Young Reader's Day is meant to draw younger kids to the book sale, so we like to have something special for them," said Snydacker.

For more information, visit www.pequotlibrary.com or call 203-259-0346. The Pequot Library is located at 720 Pequot Avenue Southport.