UC Press, with its amazing selection of reference books, scholarly tomes, art books and fiction, held its annual sale today. (It continues until 5 pm.) It’s called “The Hurt Sale,” because some of the books have bent pages or torn covers. The staff cordoned off a section of Berkeley Way right outside UC Press’ headquarters to set up a “plein air” bookstore. Hardbacks were $10 and paperbacks were just $5.
There was one entire bookshelf devoted to the works of Mark Twain. I wonder if UC Press was clearing its closets in preparation of the release of Twain’s autobiography, which he asked not be published until 100 years after his death. UC Press will sell early copies of the book Saturday Oct. 16 in Angel’s Camp in the Gold County. (The book will be officially published in November.) Twain spent 88 days in the winter of 1864-1865 in the region and did some of his most humorous writing about the area.
The release of Twain’s autobiography has received international attention.
UC officials are guarding the whereabouts of the 70 books they plan to sell on Saturday.
“They’re at an undisclosed, secure place in Calaveras County,” Executive Director Caroline Schirato told the Sacramento Bee.
