Still no books for your private-library-to-be? The free route didn't get you anywhere? You came up empty trying to find an independent local bookseller? And the remainder houses had a few titles for a buck or less, but the shipping & handling charges sent you over our $1-a-day-or-less budget?
Not to worry!
Just look for one of these
or one of these
Ah, yes...the garage sale and its close relative, the yard sale. I can't even remember anymore how many excellent volumes I picked up at these sales in my younger days. And if you drive by these sales without even stopping, for shame! You could very well be leaving a veritable treasure for a more diligent builder of private libraries.
True story: I have a friend who is very knowledgeable about European literature. The area in which he used to live was home to a large number of elderly immigrants from Eastern Europe. These beautiful people often were voracious readers; in many instances, they came from cultures which had been all but totally destroyed save for the written memories of such cultures.
Sadly, as age took its toll, and many of these immigrants began to die, their books--long esteemed by themselves as among their most cherished possessions--were orphaned. Their children, having no interest in books, or no fluency in the languages in which these books were written, would invariably have a garage sale or a yard sale to get rid of "this stuff."
My friend purchased countless rare and wonderful titles for a mere pittance!
'Nuff said....
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