Pondering something.

[jenett]

So, sitting on the upper shelves of my pantry, I have a set of books.

Specifically, over half of the 58 published volumes of the Chalet School series, a widely-popular British school story series written between 1930something and 1950something if I remember the dates right. (The school is set in the Austrian Tyrol, then in various places in the UK during the war years.)

They have never been widely available in the US - I have copies because every year my father would go to London for a week's theatre and other visiting, and I'd send him off with a list of which titles I most wanted. (which is also why my set is incomplete...)

But at this point in my life... well, I'm not reading them enough to justify space on my shelf. And I think my nostalgia about them is stronger than my love of them, if you know what I mean. They were remarkably progressive for their time in a number of ways, but there are also some ways in which they don't age brillantly (so offering to ship them to my nieces is possible, but I'm not sure what my brother would think.)

They are in "this book has been much loved and much read" condition - still readable, but there are some with loose pages, and I haven't actually opened most of them recently. (Read, last 15 years)

My contemplation is to put them up as a box lot (list of titles, and a clear note about condition, but one price for all), but I'm wondering if readers here might have another idea (and in particular, if there's any Chalet School fandom resources that might make a good place to offer them.)

But I'm open to other ideas.

(I am not getting rid of all my nostalgia books: I plan to keep the Asterix (in French) and Tintin books (mostly in English). But both of those are for reasons beyond nostalgia, at least somewhat.)

Comments

[anne]

No suggestions from me, just sympathy. I'm keeping some nostalgia books that I otherwise mightn't, for my ESL girls to read. Carefully. In my living room with no food or drink. ;-)

[fortytricks]

Maybe you could contact some of the folks who have written fanfiction for the series?

http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Chalet%20School%20-%20Elinor%20M*d*%20Brent-Dyer/works

[jenett]

That's an idea, though I'm trying to make this as simple on myself as I can.

(Context, since this is a public post deliberately, but I didn't remember to put this in: I am moving half way across the US in 3 weeks, and shipping books. I'd be okay with a couple of different packages to people, but if I'm not shipping them to myself, I need a solution that gets all the things I'm getting rid of out of my house by then. And keeping some and selling some doesn't feel as good to me as finding all of them a new home.)

[quinfirefrorefiddle]

You don't have a library or university or something nearby that would like them as donations?

Ahem- um, actually, if I remember right, you're living near a rather well known British ex-pat who could, conceivably, be interested or know someone who would be. And who interacts with fans through social media regularly.

[jenett]

They're not *that* unusual - and my copies are mostly not in a state that'd be suitable for archival use (they're not *that* rare, just not easy to come by in the US.) I think they're fine for reading copies, but they'd need a level of archival care to stay stable for another decade or two that probably isn't worth it: easier to get copies in better condition elsewhere.

I'm also not in a position to just flat out donate, other than to, say, my nieces: if I'm not shipping them with me, I'd like to get some money for them to help cushion the move.

(Not tons, but something in the $50-100 range for the lot, unless I discover I've got something absurdly rare in there, which I don't think I do: the higher end prices I found in a quick search are mostly for the hardcovers, and in better condition than my paperbacks are.)

[adelheid]

Which ones, and are they hardcovers, and I am going slightly nutty here because *Chalet School*...

[jenett]

All paperbacks. (And as I said, mostly in readable but not great condition. Much read, much loved, with the attendant bent covers and pages and all that that happens.)

It'll take me a couple of days to dig out the pantry enough to get to them easily, but I can do a list.

(I'm not up for tons of different shipping, though: this would need to be a sizeable chunk of them for shipping.)

[nineveh_uk]

You could do worse than start here.

/drive-by posting.

[cjsherwood.livejournal.com]

I would look at AddAll to see what they're going for. A fast search on Chalet School as a keyword turned up books from 99 cents to well over $400. Perhaps they're worth selling...

[woolysw.livejournal.com]

Wikipedia lists several different clubs for them where you might advertise their availability.

AbeBooks.Com lists 2800+ plus available, some at fairly high prices (up to close to $1500).