Hyde Park (Chicago) Used Book Sale, October 10, 2015

Every Columbus Day weekend, a usually fantastic Hyde Park Used Book Sale is held in the courtyard of the Hyde Park Shopping Center at the corner of 55th and South Lake Park Ave. It used to be run by the former Hyde Park Co-op grocery store to raise  money for non-profits in the area. After the Co-op went out of business in 2008, ending 75 years of operation, the replacement tenant, Treasury Island Foods, agreed to help facilitate the sale, which is now run by the Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference. Trade paperbacks normally run for $1, hardbacks $2.

Hyde Park Shopping Center courtyard before 9 am, Saturday, October 10, 2015.

I first attended the sale in 1996 when I lived in Hyde Park, and since then I've tried to go back every year--all together more than a dozen times. I love exploring through the books and the excitement of finding something uncommon or otherwise interesting. The presence of academics connected to the university and other highly educated people living in Hyde Park of course makes the quality of donated books great for me. According to the organizer's website, nearly 60,000 books were collected for the 2015 sale, but the quality--at least in terms of what I look for--is key. Among my best finds were classic books about Chinese history, society, and thought. One was signed by the famous Chinese sociologist Fei Xiaotong. My best sociology find that comes to mind was the hardback "Green Bible" of readings, Introduction to the Science of Sociology, edited by Robert Park and Ernest Burgess. (The cover is green. A scanned copy is available through Internet Archive.) This year I picked up a US road atlas from the 1940s--interesting because of how the road network looked before the interstate highway system. Because of the tight space in the courtyard, most of the books are kept stacked in the boxes, making it hard to search.

Hyde Park Used Book Sale, October 12, 2013, a few hours after sale start
(Others create a mess of books while going through the boxes, so I try to order  
them as I search. Earlier in the day, the courtyard is much more crowded with people.)

Except for possibly one year, when I didn't attend, the weather has been pleasant during at least the first day of the sale (always a Saturday) in this century.

A few times I've driven from Madison, but I usually take the bus so as to arrive early and because driving back in the traffic can be annoying. So I end up using the hours before the 9 am start to try a breakfast restaurant in Chicago. This year, after arriving at Union Station around 5:30 am by the extremely cheap bus option, I tried the chicken and waffle breakfast at Daley's, near the corner of Cottage Grove and East 63rd Street. Afterwards, I walked north to the edge of the University of Chicago campus and then along the Midway to get to the book sale. At a later time I'll post my take on the breakfast meals I've tried in Chicago over the years.

Carl Linnaeus (Carl von Linne), "Father of Taxonomy"--
Monument moved to the University of Chicago in 1976 from Lincoln Park,
where it was placed in 1893 as part of the city-wide celebration of the World's Columbian Exposition