Friends of the San Carlos Library

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Friends of the San Carlos Library

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 i

n 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

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!

10/16/2025

***Spooktacular BOOK SALE this Sunday, Oct. 19, 1-4 pm at the San Carlos Library***Every child gets a FREE book of their choosing***
Find books to give as treats! Visit the sale on the second floor in Room 209 and the Community Room.

This month’s highlights in our Unique Book Nook:
• The Practice of Pharmacy: A Treatise, by Joseph P. Re*****on, Ph.G. (1885, 1889 printing). First edition of a standard professional reference used for much of the twentieth century. $200
• Shadows Lifted or Sunshine Restored in the Horizon of Human Lives: A Treatise on the Morphine, O***m, Co***ne, Chloral and Hashish Habits, by George Wheelock Grover, M.D. (1894). Signed. An extraordinary rarity. $500.
• Amateur Telescope Making, Two volume set, by Albert G. Ingalls, Scientific American. (1972,1974). $75
• It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown: The Making of a Television Classic, by Lee Mendelson. (2014) $7
• Waiting for the Great Pumpkin, by Charles M. Schulz. (2014) $7
The Nook also features hundreds of other notable books in many subject areas, most priced at $5 or less. And don’t miss the $.50 vintage books in the Community Room!

09/18/2025

Big Book Sale this Sunday, Sept. 21, 1-4 pm
on the 2nd floor of the San Carlos Library

Current or past participant in a San Carlos youth or adult athletic program get one FREE green-dotted book!

We have tons of books plus lots of puzzles and games and a collection of Asimov's Science Fiction Magazines, various years 1998-2020.

UNIQUE BOOK NOOK highlights:
On the Road, by Jack Kerouac. (1957, first printing). Includes unclipped but worn and taped dust jacket. $800

Georgia O’Keeffe: A Viking Studio Book, Folio size. (1976)
and Georgia O’Keeffe in New Mexico: Stark Visions of a Pioneer Painter, (Life Magazine, March 1, 1968) $50 for the two.

The Oxford History of Technology from Early Times to 1900, Five Volume Set. (1957-1959). $100

Annals of the Bohemian Club, Volumes 1 & 2: 1872-1887. As is. (1900) $25

Nineteen Eighty-Four, by George Orwell. (First American Edition, 1949) Not a book club edition. No dust jacket. Well-read. $10

A large collection of beautifully illustrated classics from The Heritage Press. Most $5 to $8 each.

Seven vintage books and booklets on Fly-Fishing and Fly-Tying. (1941-1976). $15 for the group.

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

08/14/2025

Huge Back-to-School Book Sale this Sunday, August 17, 1-4 pm, at the San Carlos Library!

***Teachers and Librarians get 50% off***
***The library's birthday is in August so if yours is too you get one free Centennial tote bag!***

In addition to loads of great books we have lots of puzzles and games, as well as a collection of "Asimov's Science Fiction Magazines," various years 1998-2020.

Unique Book Nook Highlights:

Trade versions of two Pennyroyal Editions designed and illustrated by Barry Moser:
Lewis Carrol’s Alice, (1983) $15
Frankenstein, (1984) $20
Tracy and Hepburn: An Intimate Memoir, signed by the author, Garson Kanin, the noted Hollywood Golden Age film director. (1971) $30
Hitchcock, by Francois Truffaut. (1st printing, 1984) $35
In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote. (1st printing, 1965) $15
The Modern Gasoline Automobile: It’s Design, Construction, Maintenance, and Repair (1st Edition, 1912) $15
Thirty-four Ansel Adams photography books, including five signed by Adams. Priced individually from $4 to $150. (Most are $4)
Twenty-five pictorial books on the history of railroads, including many special topics Priced individually from $3.50 to $10

07/17/2025

Summer Reading SPECIAL BOOK SALE! This Sunday, July 20, 1-4 pm on the 2nd floor of the San Carlos Library. Children and teens get ***4 FREE*** red-dotted books!

Is your birthday in July? You may pick up a ***FREE*** Centennial TOTE BAG compliments of the Friends and the City of San Carlos in honor of our city's Centennial!

Unique Book Nook Highlights:

The Yosemite, by John Muir (1912) $200
The Century Atlas of the World (1897) $75
The Book of Ser Marco Polo. Translated by Sir Henry Yule. Two-volume set. (1921) $50
Your Most Humble Servant: The Amazing Story of Benjamin Banneker, Free Negro…Forgotten Hero of America’s Early Years, by Shirley Graham. (1957) $40
Four Pogo books by Walt Kelly from the 1950’s. Priced individually. $4 - $9
Unfinished Journey, inscribed by Yehudi Menuhin (1976). $5

See you at the library!

06/12/2025

It's our Monthly Book Sale! This Sunday, June 15, 1-4 pm on the 2nd floor of the San Carlos Library.

JUNE FREEBIES:

***children/teens get 4 FREE RED-DOTTED BOOKS*** in support of the Library’s Summer Reading Program!

*** San Carlos Dads get 1 FREE BOOK *** in honor of the San Carlos Centennial and Father's Day!

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See our STEAL DEALS: Great books valued at $15+, bargain-priced at $8!

Unique Book Nook Highlights this month:

Martine’s Hand-Book of Etiquette and Guide to True Politeness by Arthur Martine. (1866) $25

Railroad Stories and Railroad Magazine, two issues of railroad fan magazines with fascinating period advertisements (1936 and 1951) $10 for the two

No Bed of Roses: An Autobiography by Joan Fontaine. Inscribed by the author. (1978) $12.50

Christine by Stephen King. Like new. First trade printing. $50

12 Jewish literature books, in Hebrew, Yiddish and English. Priced individually.

Additionally, the Nook has many books in all subject areas, most priced at $5 or less.

Address

610 Elm Street
San Carlos, CA
94070

Telephone

+16505910341

Website

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

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