Friends of the San Carlos Library

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Friends of the San Carlos Library

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Building community engagement and a strong San Carlos Library through the sale of donated books. Vis on the library's second floor.

The Friends of the San Carlos Library's mission is to raise community awareness of the San Carlos library and to provide financial support for library programs, collections, and equipment. We are a volunteer-run, not-for-profit organization, based in the city of San Carlos, in Northern California's San Mateo County. We raise most of our funds through the sale of donated books. Visit our bookshop in the library rotunda and join us for our monthly book sales every third Sunday of each month from 1-4 p.m. We welcome donations of gently used books, textbooks, CDs and DVDs. You'll find our convenient donation drop-off area and donation receipts in the library's underground parking lot. Donations to the Friends are tax deductible. Are you looking for a meaningful way to help the community? We are always seeking book-loving volunteers. We offer engaging work, flexible hours, and friendly colleagues. Come sort, shelve, and sell books with us. You can find more information on our website at scfol.org

09/17/2026

***Book Sale!*** This Sunday, Sept. 20, 1-4 pm on the 2nd floor of the San Carlos Library. Choose from a huge selection of high quality, low cost books, games, puzzles CDs & DVDs.

Plus, highlights in our Unique Book Nook include:

• The Iliad. Two Volumes. In Italian.(1823-1824). $100
• Considerations on Representative Government, by John Stuart Mill. First American edition. (1862). $50
• Paradise Lost (1796). $25
• Description of Salzburg. In German (1793) $50
• The Oeconomy of Love, [by John Armstrong]. Beautifully bound (re-bound?) in leather (1766) $100
• A Portrait of Joan: The Autobiography of Joan Crawford Inscribed. (1962) $30
• Six first-generation Hardy Boys mysteries. Not numbered. (1929-1933) $100 for all
• Psychoanalysis and the Unconscious, by D.H. Lawrence (1921) $20
• The Magic Barrel, by Bernard Malamud. Pristine copy of the true first edition, Jewish Publication Society of America (1958) $125
• Virginia Woolf & Lytton Strachey Letters. (1956) $35
• Witness, by Whittaker Chambers. First Printing. (1952) $30
• Essays in the History of the American Negro, by Herbert Aptheker. (1945) $15
The Nook also features hundreds of other intriguing books, most priced at $5 or less. And don’t miss our 50 cent vintage books.

08/12/2026

***Book Sale with 50% off for Teachers and Librarians*** this Sunday, Aug. 16, 1-4 pm at the San Carlos Library. Our monthly book sale features high-quality, low-priced books, games, puzzles, CDs & Dvds!

We have many teaching resource books and an extensive inventory of books for kids and adults. And, yes, our ***back-to-school special*** means teachers and librarians get 50% off their entire bill this month.

This month's UNIQUE BOOK NOOK highlights:

• The Beach Book, by Gloria Steinem, with an introduction by John Kenneth Galbraith. A fascinating curiosity, published six years before she emerged as the Gloria Steinem we know. Includes unclipped dust jacket backed by a sun reflector. (1963, 1st printing). $50.
• The Boys of Summer, by Roger Kahn. The baseball classic. Very good condition. (1972, 1st printing) $15
• And a Voice to Sing With, by Joan Baez. Signed copy. Like new. (1987, 1st printing). $40
• A Stranger is Watching, by Mary Higgins Clark. Unclipped dust jacket. (1977, 1st printing) $15
• White House Cook Book. Early printing of the perennially popular Saalfield edition. Well worn. (1901) $10
• Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis. (1922, 1st printing, 2nd issue) $10
• The Patchwork Girl of Oz, by L. Frank Baum. Fair condition. (1913) $7.50
• Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriett Beecher Stowe. Good condition. Embossed cover. (Late 19th century English edition) $15
• A collection of nine novels from 100 years ago by best-selling San Francisco writer Gertrude Atherton, many signed by her, plus her memoir, Adventures of a Novelist. $5-$20 each

The Nook also features hundreds of other intriguing books, most $5 or less. And don’t miss our 50 cent vintage books.

07/16/2026

Big Book Sale - Sunday, July 19th, 1-4 pm at the San Carlos Library. Kids and teens get 4 **FREE** yellow-dot books to support the library’s Summer Reading Program.

Shop our huge selection of low-priced books, games, puzzles, CDs & DVDs!

This month's Unique book Nook highlights: a large collection of books on American art, plus...

• The Diary of Samuel Pepys, edited by Henry Wheatley. Complete 18-volume set. Limited edition. Good condition (1899) $100
• Snoopy, by Charles M. Schulz. Paperback. First Peanuts book to feature Snoopy. (1958, 1st printing) $40
• The Magus by John Fowles. (1st American edition 1965). Includes dust jacket (torn.) $15
• Art in a Season of Revolution: Painters, Artisans, and Patrons in Early America by Margaretta Lovell (2005) $15
• Two famous books in the history of mid-twentieth-century world politics:
--Red Star over China by Edgar Snow. (1938, 1st Edition) $100
--My Silent War by Kim Philly. (1968) $100
The Nook also features hundreds of other intriguing books in many subject areas, most priced at $5 or less. And don’t miss our .50 cent vintage books!

06/22/2026

The Friends are *temporarily* unable to accept book donations until July 22, 2026, while City facilities are being updated. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Starting July 22 we'll again welcome your gently used books, CDs/Dvds and puzzles in our location in the garage under the San Carlos Library at 610 Elm Street.

06/18/2026

BOOK SALE Sunday, June 21, 1-4 pm on the library's 2nd floor with *4 FREE red dot books for each child and teen* to support the library's summer reading program!

We have a HUGE selection of high-quality, low-priced books, games, puzzles, CDs, & DVDs! (You can get Dad a gift for Father's Day!)

This month's UNIQUE BOOK NOOK highlights:

- An extensive selection of books on the American founding, from the Declaration of Independence to the Constitution. Many like new. $4 each
- A large collection of 19th century editions of fiction and travelogues by Anthony Trollope. $4 each
- A Sentimental Journey, Laurence Sterne, vol. 1 (1770) $20
- Prince Eugene of Savoy, Anonymous (Modern binding). (1736). $10
- Picasso, by Gertrude Stein. Good condition with striking dust jacket. 1948, expanded edition. $12
- Noa Noa: My Voyage to Tahiti, Paul Gauguin. Beautifully illustrated edition with 36 woodcuts. With dust jacket . (1946). $30
- The Little Broomstick, Mary Stewart. Nice dust jacket . For children. (1972, 1st printing). $20
- Muppets! Muppets! Muppets!: The Best of Muppet Magazine. Muppet Press. Sought after. (1986) $75
- The Wizard of Oz. L. Frank Baum. LP record read by Ray Bolger (1976) $9
- My First Stamp Album. With many stamps pasted in (1954). $25
- 48 page handmade scrapbook of 19th century color vignettes. Cats, dogs, sentimental scenes, etc. $100

The Nook also features hundreds of other intriguing books in many subject areas, most priced at $5 or less. And don’t miss the .50 cent vintage books in the Community Room!

05/14/2026

BOOK SALE: Sunday, May 17, 1-4 pm at the San Carlos Library. ***1 Free Book for each teacher and nurse*** in gratitude for your hard work!

Join us at our monthly book sale and shop our extensive selection of high-quality, low-priced books, games, puzzles, CDs, & DVDs.

This month's Unique Book Nook Highlights:
• Edward Waldo Emerson, Emerson in Concord: A Memoir. (1890) $15.00.
• Auguste Rodin, Art (1928) $10
• New York Times (October 16-31, 1934) Bound volume. $10
• T.S. Eliot, Notes towards the Definition of Culture (1949) $10
• Nancy Moore, Ermintrude (1960) for young readers. $10
• W.M. Thackeray, Vanity Fair (1900) This edition features a beautiful art nouveau color image of a peacock embossed on the front cover. $100
• Oscar Tschirki et al., The Cook Book by “Oscar” of the Waldorf (1896, 1st Edition) $50

The Nook also features hundreds of other intriguing books in many subject areas, most priced at $5 or less. And don’t miss the $.50 vintage books in our Community Room.

04/17/2026

It's a ***Book sale*** Plus Games, Puzzles, CDs & DVDs - Sunday, April 19, 1-4 pm on the 2nd floor of the San Carlos Library. Join us for our giant monthly sale in Room 209 and the Community Room.

Special finds this month in our Unique Book Nook:
• William Gilpin, An Essay upon Prints: Including Remarks upon the Principles of Picturesque Beauty…. (1768). A treatise on art connoisseurship from the eighteenth century. $50
• Two years of the London Illustrated News from 1857, 1859, and 1860, bound in four volumes. Each includes a six-month run of the magazine. Classic examples of nineteenth century print art. $50 for the group.
• John Hersey, Hiroshima (1946, first printing). Good condition. Front flap of the dust jacket includes the price of $1.75 net. Book and dust jacket are in good condition. $200
• Ian Fleming, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: The Magical Car. (1964) $10
The Nook also features hundreds of other intriguing books in many subject areas, most priced at $5 or less. And don’t miss the $.50 vintage books in the Community Room.

01/16/2026

Friends of the San Carlos Library ***BOOK SALE*** this Sunday, Jan. 18, 1-4 pm at the San Carlos Library!

Join us for a huge selection of high quality, affordable books, games, puzzles, CDs, & DVDs!

Plus, this month find treasures in our Unique Book Nook, including:
--Upton Sinclair, The Jungle, (1st printing, second state, February 1906) Faded and worn cover $50
--Linus Pauling, The Nature of the Chemical Bond, (3rd—last—edition of the pathbreaking classic, 1960). Almost like new. $25
--Julia Child, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. 2 volume set in slipcase. (2010 printing) Almost like new. $50

12/18/2025

Stock up on holiday gifts this Sunday, Dec. 21, 1-4 pm, at the San Carlos Library book sale. Get one ***FREE*** holiday book!

Plus holiday books are on sale: adult 50c, child/small holiday books 25c. We have many other great books as well!

Unique Book Nook highlights:
Two eighteenth century works from France:
--Lettres Historiques et Galantes (1739) $25
--Caroline de Lichtfield (1786) $25.

Two very different books from the 1930s and 1940s:
--Born Free and Equal: Photographs of the Loyal Japanese-Americans at Mazanar Relocation Center Inyo County, California, by Ansel Adams (1944). A rarity. As is. $50
--The Little Colonel: Shirley Temple Edition, by Annie Fellows Johnston. (1935) With original (?) signature by Shirley Temple. $25
The Nook also has special Holiday books and hundreds of intriguing books on many subjects.

Happy holidays from your Friends of the Library!

11/14/2025

*Book Sale! Sunday, Nov 16, 1-4 pm at the San Carlos Library*
Each Vet receives a *FREE* San Carlos Centennial Tote Bag! Thank you for your service. Have a November birthday? You also get a *FREE* Tote Bag!

This month's Highlights in the Unique Book Nook:
--Jack London’s Children of the Frost story collection (1913 printing) $5 and Michael: Brother of Jerry, a seafaring dog story (1st Edition, 1917) $15
--You Can’t Go Home Again by Thomas Wolfe. (1st Edition, 1940). $30
--The Magician’s Nephew by C. S. Lewis. Volume six of The Chronicles of Narnia. (2nd Printing, 1958). $12.50
--Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. Includes dust jacket with $3.00 price. (Early American printing, 1949) $25

Special Holiday books including:
--Five editions of The Christmas Carol $4-$20
--Jan Brett’s Christmas Treasury like new. (2004) $20
--A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote (1989) $5

A display of gift ideas with choice unmarked books including:
--The Art of Richard Diebenkorn (1997) $10
--A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving by Charles M. Schulz (2016 printing) $5
--Great American Realists: Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper, Grant Wood Three oversized volumes in slipcase. $15

See you at the library!

Address

610 Elm Street
San Carlos, CA
94070

Telephone

+16505910341

Website

http://www.scfol.org/donate/

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