The Portsmouth Athenaeum’s annual book sale begins on Friday at the North Church Parish. “There’s a bumper crop this year,” says Tom Hardiman, the Athenaeum’s “keeper,” or Executive Director.
The books for sale date back to the 1800’s, and range in price from $1 to $50. Hardiman says there are 300 boxes of books this year – that’s 100 more boxes than last year. Many of the books, he says, focus on American history. “Because we had the estates of two esteemed local historians, professor Charlie Clark at UNH, who was head of the history department, and Donald Cole, who was head of the history department at Phillips Exeter.”
The annual book sale brings in about $3500, which the library spends on books for their members to circulate.
The Portsmouth Athanaeum is the last privately-funded membership library in New Hampshire and one of 60 remaining nationwide.
