THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 28, 1996 TAG: 9604260216
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY REBECCA A. MYERS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
FOR THE NEXT two weeks, George Thompson will spend hours in the basement of the Portsmouth Public Library sorting through more than 1,100 old record albums.
He'll separate the classical works from the Eastern European peasant songs and the military marches from the operas. He'll sort out the tangos and the gypsy compositions and even a collection of German drinking songs.
The recordings were donated to the library as part of an estate settlement and will be sold for 25 cents per disc at the Portsmouth Friends of the Library used book sale on May 10-11.
The owner wanted to remain anonymous, Burgess said.
``To have a collection like this, you had to have started way back when,'' said Thompson as he thumbed through the records.
The 63-year-old Norfolk Naval Shipyard retiree has coordinated the library's monthly book sale for about four years.
``It's one of those situations where you don't want a whole lot of help,'' he said. ``Eventually I managed to work my way in and take over, so to speak.''
It took two days to load and transport all the albums from a house in Chesapeake to the Court Street library, which will also be the beneficiary of an extensive collection of books from the estate.
``I really don't know a whole lot about him,'' said library director Dean Burgess of the owner of the estate.
``It's a large house that's now on the market, and they wanted to get all the collections of books and records out of there before they sold the house.''
Two used-book dealers combed through the reading material before the remainder was donated to the library, but there was no market for the records, Burgess was told.
``We got what was left by virtue of the fact that we were willing to go out there and get it,'' said Thompson. ``But I didn't know about the records until we got there.''
The albums will sell for half of their usual going price of 50 cents each.
``I expect to get a good response from these, especially since we cut the price in half,'' said Thompson.
According to Burgess, the used-book sale brings in anywhere from $400 on a bad day to more than $1,000 on their best days.
``And all the money that the Friends raise, they use to buy equipment for the library - usually to keep us up-to-date with technology,'' said Burgess.
Actually, the monthly sales serve a dual purpose, Thompson said.
``We enable people who don't have a lot of money to have books of their own and to have music of their own at a fairly reasonable price - at a give-away, almost.'' MEMO: The Portsmouth Friends of the Library used-book sale will be from 6 to
8:30 p.m. May 10 and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 11 at the Portsmouth
Public Library, 601 Court St. Hardbacks sell for 50 cents per 3/4-inch;
paperbacks for 25 cents per 3/4-inch. Phonographs will be sold for 25
cents each. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MARK MITCHELL
George Thompson sorts through old records for the Friends of the
Library used book sale May 10-11.
by CNB