Good Book LP Hunting: The Friends of the Springfield-Greene County Library Sale Autumn 2013 (Round 1?)

So I snuck off to the book fair in the middle of the day yesterday to check out its selection of LPs and whatnot. Scratch that: The whatnot was eliminated by the sheer number of LPs. I browsed through the ones on the tables (not the ones on the floor), and it took me over an hour. I spent another couple of minutes running over the philosophy, literature, and history tables of $1 books. No Better Books shopping for me today. Perhaps Saturday (half price day) or Sunday (bag day) will see me doing my real damage.

Here’s the little stack:

The haul includes:

• Carolingian Chronicles, a pair of texts documenting French history in the 800s.
   
• A collection of poetry chapbooks bundled together and sold as a unit for a buck. There were two, and I regret only buying one.
   
• Remember when I said I only bought one copy of Herb Alpert’s Whipped Cream and Other Delights in Clever? Well, I found two more here. And I bought them.
   
• Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass Greatest Hits. Since I’m now apparently a collector (and a speculator), I’m on the lookout for his LPs in the wild. The book fair had a couple copies of The Lonely Bull, Going Places, and SRO in addition to what I bought. His other titles are much rarer, I guess.
   
• Two Chipmunks albums. My children are suddenly too old for Sesame Street songs and are at the edge of being too old for books on record at all (and I monopolize the record player anyway). But these, I was sure, would get to them. And so they did. The older one, a poseur of sophistication at seven, feigned disdain for it when I played it for them this morning. It was a strange thing: Chipmunks à Go-Go is a 1965 collection of early 1960s hits, so I recognize most of the songs. But not like that, Lord, not like that. The other platter is Sing Again with The Chipmunks from 1960.
   
• Two by Eydie Gorme and Steve Lawrence: It’s Us Again (1962) and Songs from the Golden Circle (1959?).
   
• Rod McKuen’s The Loner (1966). Oh, I’ve read his poetry. I can’t wait to listen to his singing.
   
• Jackie Gleason Presents… “Oooo!” (1957).
   
• Carmen for Orchestra by Morton Gould. Brian J., did you buy that album simply because there’s a pretty girl on the cover? ::cough, cough:: Well, it was one reason. A few more saucy covers like this, and I’ll have nothing to fear from the Opera category on Jeopardy! If pretty woman on the cover were the only criterion, though, I’d own a lot more Sylvia albums today.

So this sudden outbreak of audiophilia means I am going to have to buy bigger shelving for my (our) burgeoning record collection. It’s our record collection, as my beautiful wife owns her fair share of them, but I’m the one burgeoning it to death. Also, I’ll need more poly sleeves for the covers. And I’m thinking about getting another turntable for the den or for my office. And, maybe. And.

So if I make it back to the sale in a non-volunteer capacity, I’ll focus on the books. And I’ll keep you, gentle reader, posted.