Packed front to back and side to side, the Friends of the Library (FOL) will open the doors of its Bookhouse on Saturday for the public to peruse and purchase from half a million items, including paintings, vinyl records, movies, sculptures, puzzles, games and no small number of books.  

The FOL hosts the sale in the spring and fall, and the 2023 fall sale will run from Oct. 21-25. Saturday’s sale will go from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m., and Sunday through Wednesday, the sale is open from noon to 6 p.m. 

For the final two days, prices drop to half price and then 10 cents.  

Sue Morris, publicity chairman for the sale, encouraged locals who have never shopped at a sale to stop by.  

“It will be the most exciting time they’ve ever had for the cheapest,” Morris said. “They can increase their library significantly at very, very little cost.”   

Morris said the sale has grown each spring and fall since the COVID-19 pandemic, with spring 2023 being the largest ever. The sale profits go to the Alachua County Library District for literacy programs.  

Morris said the nonprofit has 130 active members who help prep from sale to sale.   

The sale will alter its post-pandemic format. Past sales had two lines—one for the main Bookhouse and another for the art section.

This year, FOL staff will allow 450 shoppers into the building at one time with an internal connection to the art section. Morris said 60 people can enter the art section, which includes manga and games, at a time.  

As one shopper leaves, another can enter.  

Pete Prugh oversees the art section and said architecture books abound this time with 28 boxes of overflow. During the spring sale, he said photography dominated with plenty of reserve boxes to continue refilling shelves as buyers made their selections.  

All items sold are donated to the FOL, dropped at the door, sorted, priced and purchased.  

The art shelves and walls contain mostly copies or prints of works, but actual paintings also sit on display—including the one pictured on the right for $1,500.  

Morris said the increase in sales hasn’t come from a single pricey item but more people visiting in general.  

The Collector’s Corner houses the rarer, and pricier, items for sale. This year, the corner has a $75 Life magazine from November 1963 that commemorates John F. Kennedy. A signed, first edition of “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien will also be on the shelves.  

Here’s a sampling from the Collector’s Corner. A longer version is available at the FOL website. 

• “Italian Villas and Their Gardens” by Edith Wharton, first edition from 1904 
• “John Glenn: A Memoir,” first edition and signed 
• “A Writer’s Tale” by Richard Laymon, a signed limited edition 
• “Langston Hughes: An Illustrated Edition,” first edition 
• A 1960 edition of “The Little Prince” 
• “A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again” by David Foster Wallace, signed and first Back Bay edition 
• “When Women Were Birds” by Terry Tempest Williams, a signed first edition 
• First illustrated edition of “The Red Pony” by John Steinbeck, 1945 
• A 1966 version of “The Hobbit” by J.R.R. Tolkien 
• “Martin Eden” by Jack London, first edition from 1909 
• “The Black Civil War Soldier” by Deborah Willis, signed 
• “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, a signed first edition 
• “Emma” by Jane Austen and signed by the illustrator, Kredel, limited edition from 1964