Library Sale in Cincy

Thursday night into Friday morning I worked an overnight at the Creation Museum.  But I'd gotten work done the day before, so I didn't have too much to do after the overnight was done.  I actually left by around 10:30 and was home well before noon (which was a nice switch from other days where I didn't home as soon as I'd wanted).  After I ate lunch a bit later Amy and I were sitting on the couch when an alarm on her phone went off.  It was a calendar reminder to go to a library sale.

Several weeks ago I'd seen the information in an e-mail from the Cincinnati library that there would be a library sale in Clifton (on the west side of Cincinnati) on March 15-17.  Well I knew I was working the 15th and 17th, but I'd have the afternoon of the 16th off due to the overnight.  I'm glad I put the reminder on the calendar--otherwise I would have forgotten.  It took a little while to find the place, but we finally did--thanks to our GPS.  We drove past the building at first (but that meant we got go see some amazing old homes as we turned around) but then came back and found some parking behind it.  This wasn't the library, but all the signs said that it was the Clifton Cultural Arts Center.  I gathered from a display inside that the library is looking for a new home, or perhaps they've found it but need to remodel it.  Anyway, the building that housed the sale was pretty interesting, but more about that later.  [Yes, the Friends of the Library site says that "Proceeds from this sale will benefit the Clifton Library renovations."]

I looked through the old book section rather thoroughly.  I found quite a few books from the 1800s--several from the middle part of the century and some from the later part.  I even discovered one volume from 1810!  However, I only ended up buying one book from this section.  They were all (except for the most beat up of the old books) priced at three dollars or above.  I'm used to much cheaper library sales.  We'll likely end up going back to the "Warehouse" their main location that is open several times a week.  Though I might have to save up some money before I go there.  I didn't end up buying any of the really old books (at least not for myself--I bought one for someone else) because none of them were quite interesting enough to justify their "high" price.  With a regular library sale I can justify buying the book because I'll eventually read it and I can get a couple dozen for $10.  I bought an old (of indeterminate age) copy of Swiss Family Robinson, since the only copy of the book I own is an old Scholastic paperback edition.  I also picked up a book on Krakatoa from the historical section.

I couldn't help but notice several cool features of the building as we walked around the book tables.  Finally after we'd paid for our books (Amy picked up a likely original copy of Elsie Dinsmore--which I'd never heard of, but was all the rage when she was a kid I guess).  There was tile on part of the wall--and I took a picture of the corner of one section of wall.  Sure, it isn't the most amazing picture, but I just had fun capturing some of the old architectural features of the building.

The stairwell was what had first caught my eye inside--especially the front of the steps.  They looked to be somewhat of a latticework pattern.  We also looked up the stairs and saw more interesting things there.

I noticed an interesting grille along the floor as well as the stair rails.  Both were obviously older construction.  I like seeing old architectural details (it is one of the reasons I really appreciate Cincinnati's Union Terminal).

Outside you can really appreciate the architecture of this more-than-a-century-old building.  I'm so glad that it wasn't torn down after the decision to relocate the school was made.  Too many old buildings have been torn down because they couldn't be repurposed.

I took a couple shots of the front of the building--one was from further away while the other was closer and mainly of the upper part of the structure (I was also trying to avoid photographing the kid hanging out on the balcony).  This view with the large banners hanging down reminded me of "classic" museums like the old Smithsonian buildings, the Field Museum, and the American Museum of Natural History.

After walking to the front of the building we headed back to our car to leave.  But I had one more picture to take.  Looking through all of the old books (I must have handled every one in visible in the picture above--or at least all of the ones with really dark covers--in the process of looking over their titles and publication dates) my hands had gotten quite dirty looking.  I took a picture before we walked off--though by that point they weren't quite as dirty as they had been but a few minutes earlier.

~Matt

PS The very top picture is a panoramic that I stitched together with an app on my phone.  I need to remember to use this more often when I'm looking at large buildings or when we travel out west this summer!