Sunday, October 7, 2012

Goodwill smells like ... victory

Sunday morning and I'm granted a run out to the Value Village over on Lake City Way.  I hit the Goodwill in Shoreline on the return trip.

I had been on double-secret probation from the thrift stores after blowing out my monthly $20 budget over the summer at the Value Village near us on Crown Hill.  I picked up a cool 1950s set of the Collier Junior Classics, which I found in excellent condition and just couldn't pass up.  The time away allowed both Value Village and Goodwill to churn their books and look fresh again.

Today was a real score.

Grosset & Dunlap "How And Why" series
two KICK ASS Golden Press hardcovers

I have a Wes Anderson-like reverence for Jacques Cousteau, and I have nearly completed this set of his old books from Doubleday Press:


Fans of the movie "Rushmore" will remember the book Diving for Sunken Treasure in this series, a copy of which I have here.

And some general read-on-the-bus history stuff. 


And one more staple.  I have a good set of John Stuart Mill books from the 19th century, including his Political Economy, but only have "On Liberty" etc in shitty Penguin paperback.


This can go on my shelf between its sibling Oxford Press editions of Burke's Reflections and Maine's classic Ancient Law.

It was a good day.  Altogether, spent $15 for these castaway books.

2 comments:

hettygreen said...

Nice. I had that How and Why book on Oceanography with the giant octopus and USS Thresher on the cover when I was a kid. I remember the grocery stores used to carry them as 'rewards' for the little children who 'endured' shopping with mommy. Sure beats the hell out of the impulse crap food garbage offered to appease the little screamers today. Anyway, your Value Village doesn't sound remotely like the one in my neck of the woods...a whole bunch of overpriced crap books and no vintage items to speak of. Of course the sterno drinkers and meth heads probably outnumber the readers 10 to 1 in this part of town.

christiangustafson said...

Seattle Value Villages are pretty nice in comparison. I've found some great books at the one around the corner from me, like Fernand Braudel's 3-volume history of capitalism in Europe - with dust jackets.

I'm usually on phencyclidine when thrifting. My kids think I'm the "cool dad", and are impressed by my great feats of strength.