USED BOOK SALES

The Friends of MPL's Fall, 2017 used book sale starts tomorrow. The Community Room is full of good books, both fiction and non-fiction, offered for sale to the public. And there's a section of collectible books, as well -- which serves as a reminder of Charlie Bullis and the contribution he made to the Bullis Collection.

The collection contains books acquired by a long line of Bullis family members, and reflects the interests of various family members: engineering, mathematics, law, medicine, religion, and horticulture. Charlie Bullis added valuable volumes to his family's library ... quite often by visiting local barn sales, where he purchased used books.

Which brings us to the present day and the Friends of MPL's current book sale. We can imagine Charlie Bullis being a regular customer of these sales, and carting off boxes of collectible books back to his home on Canandaigua Road.

We are indebted to Charlie Bullis for his love of books and for seeking out the used book sales of his day.  He added some valuable books to the collection.

And we are also indebted to the Friends of the library for their continued support of Macedon Public Library and its programs for the community.

BOOKS, AND MORE BOOKS

On Thursday, October 27 through Saturday, October 29, the Friends of Macedon Public Library will launch their Giant Fall Book Sale during regular library hours. This is an opportunity for all of you book lovers to add to your collection without draining your bank accounts. In fact, on Saturday, the Friends will sell a special book sale bag for only $1.00, and you can fill it will as many books of your choice, for just an additional $2. That's a super bargain!

So please plan to stop by the Community Room and look through the books that are organized by genre (and alphabetized( for your convenience. You'll be helping finance library programs while acquiring some really good reading for those long winter nights that are fast approaching us.

And after you've shopped the book sale, we suggest you stop by the Bullis Room and look at the "George Washington Treaty Belt" that is on display there (November, which is Native American month).  It is one of two replicas, the other to be carried on Treaty Commemoration Day on November 11 in Canandaigua.

The current book display outside the Bullis Room is "The Spirits of the Bullis Room." If you haven't seen the various books on religion and spiritualism, you have until the end of October to look at the variety in the Bullis Collection on those subjects.  November's display will feature books on Native Americans.

DR. CHASE'S RECIPES, BLACKSMITHING, AND A BEAR

A Bullis Room volunteer reads Dr. Chase's recipe for improving poor iron for use in blacksmithing.

Below is our November 27, 2009 post. This week we took another look at that entry after we attended a Friends of Macedon Public Library blacksmithing presentation on Wednesday by two members of the New York State Designer Blacksmiths. They gave us the fascinating history of blacksmithing and brought us up to date on the current status of this craft. Afterwards, they asked if the Bullis collection had any books on the subject. Dr. Chase's book soon came to mind, and we're looking for others. In the meantime, we're zeroing in on blacksmithing recipes in this little book in order to share them with anyone interested.  We'll post some of them with you in next week. For now, perhaps you'd like to refresh your memory about this fun-to-read Bullis book.

"This little blue-covered book, which measures about 4 by 7 inches, is almost hidden by the thicker, taller medical tomes on the shelf. But it contains what must have been useful information in its day, proving that good things really do come in small packages.

Published in 1872 by R.A. Beal, Ann Arbor, Michigan, Dr. Chase's Recipes; or, Information for Everybody; An Invaluable Collection of About Eight Hundred Practical Recipes instructs merchants, grocers, saloon keepers, housekeepers, physicians, druggists, barbers, bakers, and farmers how to make apple pie, an ague cure, deer skin tanning solution, a chronic rheumatism cure, washing fluid (saving half the wash-board labor), a Good Samaritan liniment, and 794 more concoctions. (Whew!)

Our copy is the 73rd edition and states that 730,000 copies (at $1.25 each) had been sold at that time, leading the author to the conclude that a good many folk recognized the value of so much handy information packed into one volume. Today, we may find many of these recipes outdated, but they still make entertaining reading. We recommend you spend some time with Dr. Chase's little blue book."