Three Cousins Detective Club

#24 The Mystery of the Book Fair by Elspeth Campbell Murphy, 1999.

Sarah-Jane is excited about the book fair being held in the public library. She helped to collect donations of books for the sale, and she wants to be first in line so that she can buy a set of old Winnie-the-Pooh books that she’s had her eye on.

But from the moment that she claims the books, people keep coming up to her and trying to get her to let them have them or buy them from her. Another volunteer at the sale, who is also a book dealer, looks over the books and tells Sarah-Jane that they are rare first editions that are worth a lot of money.

Even though Sarah-Jane bought the books in good faith from the library, she and her cousins feel that they ought to try to find the original owner to make sure that he really meant to donate them. The trouble is that Sarah-Jane remembers that the donor of the books behaved rather strangely and seemed very nervous. When he gave them the books, he even called them by the wrong name, “Winkie-the-Pooh.” What kind of book collector wouldn’t know the value of his own collection or even the correct name of the books? Did the books even really belong to him at all? Then, more than one person shows up at the library, claiming to own the books. Who is the original owner?

The theme of the story is Proverbs 3:3, “Don’t ever stop being kind and truthful. Let kindness and truth show in all you do. Write them down in your mind as if on a tablet.”

The book is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive.

My Reaction and Spoilers

Sarah-Jane wanted the books not only because she likes Winnie-the-Pooh but because she likes old things, and she found the old copies of the books charming. Although she did not originally collect old books, these particular books inspire her to start an old book collection. Many people have discovered their love of collecting old books thanks to the popularity of recent aesethics, like Cottagecore and Dark Academia.

However, as the book dealer in the story explains, most old books are not the rare collectors’ items that these first edition copies are. The dealer explains that the value of an old book depends on many factors, like the condition of the book, its rarity, and the number of people who would be interested in acquiring it. I’ve encountered this myself in collecting old children’s books. Many of the books that I cover on this site would be worth very little to other collectors because they are not rare, first edition classics, but they’re worth something to me because there are elements of the stories that I find interesting. I don’t have the funds to buy most of the really rare books, although I’ve occasionally managed to buy books that would ordinarily be out of my price range at used book sales or as library discards or as damaged books. I think the most expensive books I have are ones that would be worth perhaps $100 or $200 if they were in pristine condition, which none of my books are. I’ve never encountered anything that would be worth thousands of dollar, like the Winnie-the-Pooh books in the story. The Winnie-the-Pooh books are worth that much because they are not only first editions but they are in near mint condition and they are extremely popular classic books.

One of the adults who tries to pressure Sarah-Jane into selling the books to her is a woman who tries to make Sarah-Jane feel bad for buying books that are for younger kids. The woman says that she wants to buy them for a young child, but the nice dealer recognizes her as a fellow book dealer and knows that she’s trying to cheat Sarah-Jane because she has recognized the books for what they are and knows their value. The woman wasn’t being honest in anything she said. She wasn’t really interested in the books just for their own sake, as a book lover or as a present for a real child, but only for their monetary value. That makes her different from Sarah-Jane, who fell in love with the books for their own sake. I’m not the only one who collects old books, even old children’s books, just because I appreciate them for what they are. It’s a feeling that doesn’t know any particular age. The real owner of the bookss turns out to be an elderly man who was born the year that the first Winnie-the-Pooh book was published and who has had the books since they were new. He loves them not just because they’re collectors’ items but because of their sentimental value.

The books were stolen from the house of the book collector along with some other things. One of the thieves donated the books to the library because he thought they were worthless. His partner in crime knew that they were worth a lot of money and came to the sale to try to get them back. He runs away when the real owner of the books shows up looking for them. Sarah-Jane calls the police and tells them what happened. The books are returned to their rightful owner, and as a reward, he buys another rare book of fairy tales that was donated to the sale (on purpose, by the owner) and gives it to Sarah-Jane.